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Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the two players Mel Kiper is comparing Logan Thomas to both Tight Ends? Funny, I don't see comparisons being drawn between Eric Ebron (TE out of North Carolina, projected to be first taken in the draft) and any NFL quarterbacks.
Let's Explore The Perceptions Surrounding The Development Of VT QBs
This tweet just highlights the preposterous nature of this entire Logan Thomas experiment. Virginia Tech under Frank Beamer has operated under a crisis of confidence at the QB position for his entire tenure. Even getting Jim Druckenmiller drafted in the first round; and Michael Vick drafted number one overall didn't dispel his "inferiority complex" regarding how he is perceived as having built his program on ONLY the strength on Defense and Special Teams, and that he is strategically challenged on the offensive side of the football.
The quarterbacks who recognize success in the program are not often coveted by the NFL, because the system(s) Virginia Tech runs are not compatible with those that are presently being used in the pros. And because, as the whispers tell it, the respect for the Football IQ of a VT quarterback product is often regarded as developmentally delayed. Druckenmiller and Vick did not help refute these notions.
I sympathize with Beamer. He is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He has to convince top-flight quarterback recruits to attend VT somehow, and to do this he needs to be able to assure them that he can prepare them for the pros, and potentially a big payday on draft day. You say, well aren't Druckenmiller and Vick proof positive that he CAN do this? Well, yes and no.
While it's true that those two did get drafted in the first round, anyone advising the potential recruit would say: Druckenmiller played in a system that VT no longer uses, and he was utterly unprepared to deal with the NFL playbooks when he arrived. And the adviser can ask the recruit: Do you run a 4.25 40 yard dash like Mike Vick, and can you throw the ball 75 yards in the air across your body? If the recruit says no, then you can see how the conversation ends there.
Because the reality is, that Maurice DeShazo, Al Clark, Bryan Randall, Marcus Vick, Sean Glennon, and Grant Noel are more the rule for VT Football, and Druckenmiller and Vick unique exceptions. It is a very tough sell to any quarterback who hopes to make it to the NFL one day, that they can get the requisite attention in such a passing attack. And VT's offensive reputation among NFL draft personnel certainly hurt Tyrod Taylor, who found himself unfairly lumped in with the larger group, as opposed to being viewed as a potential game-changer with tremendous makeup.
Taylor still awaits his chance, having proven he is more than capable of absorbing and applying the concepts contained in the Baltimore Ravens playbook. Unfortunately, he awaits his chance while earning a paycheck that is less than it should be. Nobody will ever be able to convince me Tyrod didn't deserve to go in the top three rounds. His combine numbers were good, and he had a nice body of work at VT that was achieved in spite of the numbskullery of Bryan Stinespring's offensive playcalling.
Because Stinespring and Mike O Cain were simply not up to task, Beamer found recruiting the position difficult and lost out on a few key targets that might have replaced Taylor. But with Logan Thomas displaying a huge arm and the carriage necessary to lead a team, Dr Beamerstein went into the lab and had a EUREKA! moment. Cam Newton had just been drafted and their physical attributes were similar. Beamer thought: perhaps this is my golden ticket!
The rest is history, very disappointing mediocre history. After leading the Hokies to an 11-2 record (we won that Michigan Sugar Bowl $&#!) in 2011, Logan lost his top RB to the NFL's 1st round in David Wilson and lost a pair of school record-breaking Wide Receivers in Jarrett Boykin and Danny Coale. Tech never replaced these playmakers and Thomas slogged through a 15-11 record over his final two years, never to again reach the heights we caught a brief glimpse of here:
Thomas showed flashes every game, but rarely put the complete game together, save for the Miami tilts, who he saved his very best for. While in school he was never able to best Tajh Boyd as Clemson got the best of the Hokies three times; and Virginia Beach product EJ Manuel went on to become a key factor in revitalizing the Free Seafood University football program before getting drafted 16th overall by Buffalo in the 2013 draft. While those two were likely never coming to Blacksburg, it just highlights the deficit we were operating at creating a QB from relative scratch once Chesapeake-area recruit Kevin Newsome took his talents to the Big 10 (11? 14? Whatever). All of those names were in-state products like Thomas, and none seriously considered VT as an attractive option.
Let's Talk Draft Now, You're Done Crying Over Spilled Milk
But enough of the sour grapes about Logan's VT tenure, which I completely deluded myself into supporting for far too long. Let's discuss the NFL prospects for Logan. I consider him to be a wonderful prospect....primarily at Tight End. And while he will be drafted at QB, it is my hope that he realizes he can make a far greater impact in the league at TE and follows that path.
As evidenced in the tweet above and in my February article about the combine, Logan's measurables are TREMENDOUS. But is he really that fast? He was more of a rumbler when carrying the ball. We can essentially dispense with the Cam Newton comparisons right there. Examine the speed Cam exhibits here as he pulls away from DBs in the open field:
By contrast let's examine Logan's forays into the secondary. Funny, there aren't many, aside from one hole vs Miami in 2011 you could have drove an 18-wheeler through, when he went 73 yards. Instead, this is the type of run we came to expect, and NFL personnel men should expect nothing different once he reaches the pros:
While Logan could run over defenders with his 260 lb frame, he often looked like a bull in a china shop, bucking around the right end on keepers and eating up three yards here, four yards there. His first year at the helm, he had an impressive run of 20+ straight 3rd and short conversion runs, but as the offensive line began to struggle in his second and third years, his push alone was not enough to pick up those first downs any longer; especially considering the defense had a good idea what was coming. Often his decision making on the keepers looked a bit delayed, and holes would close up on him.
As you saw above, Logan can deliver the punishment. But he is also extremely durable while standing up to pass rush in the pocket, as Georgia Tech's Jeremiah Attaochu can attest:
While Logan's refusal to go down on this play was admirable, and a key to that victory, this is not the kind of play NFL GMs envision him needing to make with any type of regularity, nor do they want him to. What they are looking for is rapid decision-making ability and the ability to self-preserve. Which is a disconnect documented all too well in the Robert Griffin III saga here in Washington DC.
And plays like this one below have everyone wincing at poor decision making and a lack of inclination to self-preserve:
Just look at how he opens himself up to take that hit. Not wise at all, for a minor gain. And to me it was it was almost too poetic in terms of how that capped his VT career. Showing off the tools on one series, and giving cause for consternation on the very next.
Can He Make The Throws?
OK, so he's no burner, but he runs pretty fast for his size and he can take a hit. But what about the throws? As a QB can he make all the throws? To be curt, no he cannot. He has been working with quarterback "guru" (and man do I feel dirty for using it here) George Whitfield Jr. out in SoCal and per George Whitfield Jr:
Honestly though what else is he supposed to say at this point? For me it's difficult to say how effective Whitfield is in working with QBs. He attaches himself to some pretty completed projects and takes a lot of extra credit for things that might have come to his clients organically in the first place. This article by Bruce Feldman states that his body of work with prep prospects isn't so "glowing". With combine numbers that were just fantastic, it's up to Logan to convince scouts that he can make the throws. Because if they refer to the tape they see this:
Yeah. Four picks in a HOME loss to Dook. When evaluating QBs you have to take into account both their ceiling and floor. If this is the floor, then there are miles of work to be done before you could classify him as a completed project. Which is why he went from being hailed as the next Cam Newton and a likely first round choice following his 2011 campaign to mid-late round project following his senior year.
The developmental concerns in going from a red-shirt sophomore who exhibited such poise and leadership to a shaky, somewhat defensive senior have been cataloged the world over. The ESPN look-in at summer camp showed Thomas having an inordinate amount of difficulty throwing intermediate out patterns, check out starting after the 18:40 mark:
You can see the frustration on Wide Receiver Aaron Moorehead's face as he takes Beamer's constructive criticism about WRs catching with their hands and away from the body. If someone would just stopping bouncing those passes, maybe they would be able to utilize proper technique.
So Now That We've Established That Logan Is Still A Diamond In The Rough, Where Does He Get Drafted?
Who knows? Just what you read this far to read right?
There have been murmurs that he could go late in the 2nd round, and there have been projections of him going as late as the 5th. He has the strongest arm of all the QBs in the draft, and is still being thought of as one of the most intriguing prospects in the draft, even more advanced at this point than Cam Newton. It appears that folks are actually holding VT against him in a beneficial way this time around, which goes against the grain of the history I quoted you above. It appears that NFL scouts view him as malleable, and feel that all his bad habits can be worked out in the right system.
The hedge bet here is that those teams that are thinking of him as a 2nd round pick will see what he has to offer at QB, but deep down they know he could be split out wide and catching passes for them in the event that the QB gambit fails. Those that draft him later see him exclusively at QB in their plans, and would be excited to have an overall athlete of his caliber developing his skills for the future.
For my inflation-adjusted two cents, I am of the opinion that you only take Logan in the 2nd round if you plan on him playing relatively soon, in one capacity or the other. At QB, I don't believe he's ready to do much beyond run the practice squads for a while, certainly not step in immediately and carry the clipboard as a number two.
Everyone loves a big, mobile athlete taking snaps. One who can see the field and has the arm for the throws. But as we all saw from the Alabama opener all the way through the Sun Bowl, while he has the arm for those throws, he doesn't exhibit patience, look defenders off well, or make the touch throws with any natural ease. But if you need the 20 yard seam route, nobody looks prettier.
This may have read like I'm negative on Logan, but that couldn't be further from the truth. I'm just negative on the universal tug-of-war that has surrounded him for four years now, and it's a stalemate, with no one side getting pulled into the mud. He is a jack of all trades and master of none at this point. And I hope that whatever situation he finds himself in come Monday, that he will be able to shake free from the clutches of negativity that we've foisted upon him as an over-expectant fan base.
But just so you know, I look at this video below and I see the future of Logan Thomas:
Enjoy the weather and the draft everyone! We'll back later with our final pre-draft profile on Antone Exum, and we'll continue with draft coverage over the weekend so you can see where all our Hokies end up! Let us know below in the comments where you think Logan might be a good fit.
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Stephen Glass' lies in focus as he seeks law license LEGAL AFFAIRS
Stephen Glass, former writer for The New Republic, is seen in this video framegrab released by CBS' "60 Minutes," Wednesday, May 7, 2003, in New York. Next week Simon & Schuster will publish Glass' "The Fabulist,"an autobiographical - but invented - account of his rise and fall at The New Republic. The magazine fired Glass in 1998 after determining there were fabrications in 27 of the 41 articles he had written. (AP Photo/CBS News) less Stephen Glass, former writer for The New Republic, is seen in this video framegrab released by CBS' "60 Minutes," Wednesday, May 7, 2003, in New York. Next week Simon & Schuster will publish Glass' "The ... more Photo: CBS News, Associated Press Photo: CBS News, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Stephen Glass' lies in focus as he seeks law license 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
Stephen Glass faked all or parts of more than 40 articles for national magazines from 1996 to 1998. In 2003, he acknowledged that his violation of journalistic standards was so severe that he would "never be welcomed within journalism, and rightly so."
Now the California Supreme Court will decide whether Glass' behavior was so bad as to make him morally unfit to practice law.
Glass, whose frauds were the subject of the 2003 film "Shattered Glass," is now a 39-year-old law clerk at a firm in Beverly Hills. He passed the bar exam and applied for an attorney's license in 2007, but the State Bar's Committee of Bar Examiners turned him down, questioning his claims of remorse and rehabilitation and saying he had not yet shown he could be trusted.
Glass appealed to the independent State Bar Court, which ruled 2-1 in his favor in July. The majority found "overwhelming evidence of Glass' reform and rehabilitation" since 1998 and noted he had impressive character references from 22 witnesses, including two judges who had employed him, two psychiatrists who treated him, and the former editor in chief of the New Republic, where most of the fabricated articles appeared.
Glass "has learned, painfully, from his mistakes," the former editor, Martin Peretz, told the bar court.
The bar examiners appealed, and the state's high court voted last month to review the case, leaving Glass' application on hold while he awaits a hearing, possibly next fall.
Glass did not respond to a request for comment.
2000 case rejected
This will be the court's first ruling on a would-be lawyer's moral fitness since 2000, when it rejected a man who said he had turned his life around after serving a manslaughter sentence for beating and stabbing his sister to death in 1975. The court said several recent brushes with the law - driving with a suspended license or without insurance, then failing to appear in court - undermined his claim of rehabilitation.
Glass was not charged with any crimes for his magazine articles. But the court must still decide whether he has behaved well enough, and for long enough, to erase the doubts about his character.
Glass was 23 and a year out of college when he landed an internship with the New Republic in 1995. He was one of the magazine's brightest young stars 2 1/2 years later when he was fired by editor Charles Lane, who was in the process of learning that virtually everything Glass had written since 1996 contained falsehoods - quotes, sources, events. Often entire articles were fabricated.
Glass' deceptions also appeared in Harper's, Rolling Stone, Policy Review and the now-defunct George magazine. He invented stories about politicians across the spectrum, including then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Bill Clinton's aide Vernon Jordan, whose supposed sexual excesses were described in bogus quotes.
His cover-ups were even more elaborate. When Lane challenged an article about a 15-year-old hacker who extorted money from a computer company, Glass created a website and a newsletter for the nonexistent company and had his brother pose as a company executive who phoned Lane and another media outlet that was looking into the story.
The two sides in the current case offer contrasting diagnoses for Glass' behavior.
Public apologies
Glass, by his own account, "enjoyed the excitement and success that the lies brought him," State Bar lawyers said in court documents. But his lawyers said therapists who have treated Glass for 12 years found that he suffered from self-hatred and arrested development.
"With each lie, Mr. Glass felt more inadequate and withdrew further from society," Glass' attorneys said in a recent filing.
Glass started apologizing for his misdeeds in the early 2000s, writing about 100 letters to magazines and the subjects of his articles. In 2003, he published "The Fabulist," a novel about his experiences, and made a contrite appearance that year on CBS's "60 Minutes."
He also applied to become a lawyer in 2003 after passing the New York bar exam. But the state's bar did not act on his request for moral character approval, and he withdrew his application in 2004 and moved to Los Angeles.
While working at the law firm, his lawyers said, Glass has performed hundreds of hours of charitable work and has done legal research, some of it on his own time, on behalf of underprivileged youth and victims of racial violence.
There is "overwhelming evidence" of Glass' "maturation, reformation and rehabilitation over the past 13 years," his lawyers told the court. Glass, in a statement to the bar, said he was "greatly ashamed and remorseful about my lying" but now is "forthright and candid about my years of misconduct."
The bar's lawyers disagree. They say Glass did not provide a full list of his fabrications until 2009, never compensated anyone harmed by his articles, and never offered to donate any of his earnings, like the proceeds of his novel, to projects promoting journalistic ethics. They also say his apologies in letters and on "60 Minutes" could be viewed as attempts to promote his then-upcoming novel and New York bar application.
Common values
Though journalism and law practice differ greatly in their structure and regulation, State Bar attorney Rachel Grunberg said in an interview, they have the same basic ethical standards.
The two professions "share common core values - trust, candor, veracity, honor, respect for others," she said. "He violated every one of them."
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Coming Soon
Yankee
A young man from Texas crosses the border into Mexico and becomes an infamous drug lord.
Mirage
A space-time continuum glitch allows Vera to save a boy's life 25 years earlier, but results in the loss of her daughter, whom she fights to get back.
Northern Rescue
After the sudden death of his wife, search and rescue commander John West relocates with his three kids to his rural hometown of Turtle Island Bay.
Typewriter
When a family moves into a suburban Goa house believed to be haunted, a group of young friends dares to investigate.
Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020
As the eyes of the world turn to Tokyo for 2020, six new strangers will gather in this exciting city to live under the same roof.
Followers
After an aspiring actress hits it big thanks to a candid Instagram, her life intersects with many other Tokyo women as they follow their dreams.
Pachamama
Dreaming of becoming a shaman, an impish boy from the Andes journeys across uncharted lands to recover a stolen treasure in this animated adventure.
Rilakkuma and Kaoru
Kaoru's unexpected new roommate is Rilakkuma, a bear with a zipper on its back that spends each day just lazing around -- but is impossible to hate.
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SEJONG: Cigarette imports dropped on-year in 2014, but imports of electronic cigarettes leaped as South Koreans tried to kick the habit after the government raised prices, the customs office said.
The government raised the average price of a pack of cigarettes by 2,000 won (US$1.84) on Jan. 1, pushing smokers to quit with the help of e-cigarettes.
A tally from the Korea Customs Service (KCS) showed cigarette imports dropped 14.4 percent last year from the year before, or $15.9 million in value, down from $18.57 million in 2013.
In terms of volume, South Korea bought 823 tons of cigarettes from abroad, down 15.4 percent from 973 tons the year before.
Asian cigarette imports grew, with products made by Singapore making up 33.2 percent of the total. German cigarettes accounted for 21 percent with products made in Lithuania, Switzerland and Malaysia making the top five list.
Imports of e-cigarettes, on the other hand, skyrocketed 342 percent on year to $10.14 million, with 138 tons worth of the products being brought into the country. This is a gain of 348.2 percent from the year before in volume.
The customs office said of the total imported last year, 75.4 percent were brought into the country in the fourth quarter of 2014, with 96 percent being made in China.
Most e-cigarette products did not come with liquid solutions used to simulate smoking, which explains imports of the solutions jumping 344.5 percent in value to $4.43 million with quantity gaining 283.8 percent to 66 tons.
Imports in the fourth quarter accounted for 73.6 percent of the annual total with 72.2 percent of e-cigarettes coming from China for the whole of 2014. Products from the United States made up 26.3 percent of imports.
The KCS said last year’s trend mirrors developments that have been taking place for some time. While there was a rush to import foreign cigarettes before prices went up, this did not affect the overall trend.
“A drop in imports and demand for e-cigarettes reflect the move by local smokers to cut back or opt for alternative ways to control their habits as society as a whole is moving to discourage smoking,” the customs office said.
Meanwhile, Philip Morris, one of the largest tobacco companies in the world, said over the weekend that it will cut local prices on its Marlboro and Parliament cigarettes as of Monday.
The company said it has marked down the two products to 4,500 won per pack, from 4,700 won.
The two cigarette brands make up 75 percent of all sales in South Korea.
The latest move by Philip Morris effectively erased the price gap between locally made and foreign brands that have been maintained since 2011.
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David Kogan is Magnum’s Executive Director and a collector of photography, most notably of Robert Capa. Today we accompany this article with a collection of Robert Capa prints on the Magnum Shop.
Magnum Photos is 70 this year. Seven decades of great work, arguments, financial chaos, more arguments, loves, hatreds and big egos. It is a miracle of survival and commitment that has supported generations of talented photographers to do their work.
As someone who only joined the agency three years ago I’m often asked what makes Magnum worth it? What’s the point of keeping it going after 70 years in a world when so many images are created everyday?
It’s partially a personal commitment to photography itself. It’s also a belief that Magnum occupies a place of critical importance in the modern world of photography and photojournalism.
I started collecting magazines and newspapers when I was in my teens; reading Picture Post and Life magazines from the 1930s to the 1960s. The use of photography dominates these journals as does the skill of the photographers. However, my interest was the history. You get a true sense of another world by reading and looking at a magazine published months before the Second World War, when the writers and photographers have little idea what is going to happen. One of those Picture Posts in 1938 featured “the world’s greatest photographer,” Robert Capa, who had covered both the flood of refugees from the Spanish Civil War and the Japanese invasion of China. This was nine years before he helped create Magnum.
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For centuries, there's been no official French word for the sloppy Gallic export ''to French kiss'' - though that certainly hasn't stopped any citizen from doing so.
Now the oversight has been rectified.
The one-word verb ''galocher'' - to kiss with tongues - is among new entries added to the ''Petit Robert'' 2014 French dictionary, which hit the shops Thursday.
It may surprise many that France - a country famed for its amorous exploits and which gave the world sex-symbol Brigitte Bardot, romantic photographer Robert Doiseau and even scandal-hit former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn - is only just linguistically embracing the popular pastime.
Yet Laurence Laporte of the Robert publishing house says that it's just the way language evolves.
''We always had many expressions to describe 'French-kissing,' like 'kissing at length in the mouth,' but it's true, we've never had one single word,'' she said.
The term ''French kiss'' - once also called a ''Florentine kiss'' - is popularly considered to have been brought back to the English-speaking world by soldiers returning from Europe after World War I.
At the time, the French had a reputation for more adventurous sexual practices. Laporte said ''galocher'' was a slang term that's been around for a while ''but only now is it being officially recognized in a French dictionary.''
''La galoche'' is an ice-skating boot, so the new term riffs evocatively on the idea of sliding around the ice.
The word expert added a caveat about the power of language.
The lack of a specific term ''never stopped us from doing it,'' Laporte noted.
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TAMPA, Fla. -- New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira is now gluten free, sugar free and dairy free, which he hopes will keep him injury free.
Teixeira's belief in his new diet and renewed weightlifting program makes him believe that he can stay fully healthy for the first time since 2011. If he does, Teixeira thinks he can be a 30-homer and 100-RBI player again.
Mark Teixeira played in 123 games last season, hitting .216 with 22 home runs and 66 RBIs. AP Photo/Kathy Willens
"I look at the last two years as hopefully more of a bump in the road," Teixeira said. "The way I feel now, I feel like a kid again. I feel like I did a few years ago when I was hitting 30-plus homers and driving in 100 RBIs, playing almost every single day.
"Thirty and 100 is kind of what I've always been and what I want to be. So if I can do that, then I know I'm helping the team out. That is the most important thing. I know if I can do that, then I know I'm helping the team out."
In 2013, wrist surgery limited Teixeira to 15 games. Last year, he played in 123 games, hitting .216 with 22 homers and 62 RBIs. He said the daily one-hour treatment made the season not "fun at all."
Two years removed from the surgery, he thinks his wrist should hold up. He last had a 30-and-100 season in 2011, when he hit 39 homers and drove in 111 runs in 156 games.
Teixeira, who turns 35 in April, hasn't played more than 123 games since that 2011 season but thinks that with his new diet he will cut down on the inflammation in his body. He said he will use the diet, which consists of no bread and a lot of buffalo meat, the rest of his playing career. He said he reconfigured his body, adding 13 pounds of muscle, while losing fat.
"I have to go all-in," Teixeira said.
As for the shift that has reduced his batting average over the years, Teixeira said his only remedy is to hit more home runs and doubles and to walk more.
"We have talked about it ad nauseam," Teixeira said. "Every time I try to talk about it and slap the ball the other way, it just doesn't go well for anybody. That's exactly what the other team wants, to take a middle-of-the-order power hitter and turn him into a slap hitter."
Teixeira's locker is next to Alex Rodriguez in spring training, and the two have known each other since Teixeira was a rookie in Texas. Teixeira is looking forward to mentoring Rodriguez, who could be the backup at first base, along with being the designated hitter and playing some at third.
"It is funny; I was a rookie when Alex was the best player in the world, and he got to teach me some things," Teixeira said. "Now I'm going to be able to teach him some things. Having a backup, a decent backup is important, because I know there were times last year when I was just out there for my defense."
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The U.S. intelligence official who “unmasked,” or exposed, the names of multiple private citizens affiliated with the Trump team is someone “very well known, very high up, very senior in the intelligence world,” a source told Fox News on Friday.
Intelligence and House sources with direct knowledge of the disclosure of classified names told Fox News that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., now knows who is responsible -- and that person is not in the FBI.
For a private citizen to be “unmasked,” or named, in an intelligence report is extremely rare. Typically, the American is a suspect in a crime, is in danger or has to be named to explain the context of the report.
“The main issue in this case, is not only the unmasking of these names of private citizens, but the spreading of these names for political purposes that have nothing to do with national security or an investigation into Russia’s interference in the U.S. election,” a congressional source close to the investigation told Fox News.
The unmasking of Americans whose communications apparently were caught up in surveillance under the Obama administration is a key part of an investigation being led by Nunes, who has come under fire from Democrats for focusing on that aspect.
Nunes has known about the unmasking controversy since January, when two sources in the intelligence community approached him. The sources told Nunes who was responsible and at least one of the Trump team names that was unmasked. They also gave him serial numbers of reports that documented the activity.
This was long before Trump sent out his now-infamous March 4 tweets claiming then-President Barack Obama “wiretapped” Trump Tower during the 2016 election.
Nunes had asked intelligence agencies to see the reports in question, but was stonewalled.
He eventually was able to view them, but there was only one safe place to see the documents without compromising the sources’ identities -- the old executive office building on White House grounds, which has a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF) required to view classified or top secret reports. The White House did not tell Nunes about the existence of the intelligence reports, but did help him gain access to the documents at his request, the source said.
The White House, meanwhile, is urging Nunes and his colleagues to keep pursuing what improper surveillance and leaks may have occurred before Trump took office. They’ve been emboldened in the wake of March 2 comments from former Obama administration official Evelyn Farkas, who on MSNBC suggested her former colleagues tried to gather material on Trump team contacts with Russia.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Friday her comments and other reports raise “serious” concerns about whether there was an “organized and widespread effort by the Obama administration to use and leak highly sensitive intelligence information for political purposes.”
“Dr. Farkas’ admissions alone are devastating,” he said.
Farkas parted ways with the White House in 2015 and defended herself on Twitter, saying she didn’t personally “give anybody anything except advice” on Russia information and wanted Congress to ask for facts.
The communications collected from Trump team associates apparently were picked up during surveillance of foreign targets. But an intelligence source familiar with those targets said they were spied on long before Trump became the GOP presidential nominee in mid-July.
In addition, citizens affiliated with Trump’s team who were unmasked were not associated with any intelligence about Russia or other foreign intelligence, sources confirmed. The initial unmasking led to other surveillance, which led to other private citizens being wrongly unmasked, sources said.
"Unmasking is not unprecedented, but unmasking for political purposes ... specifically of Trump transition team members ... is highly suspect and questionable,” an intelligence source told Fox News. “Opposition by some in the intelligence agencies who were very connected to the Obama and Clinton teams was strong. After Trump was elected, they decided they were going to ruin his presidency by picking them off one by one."
Nunes first revealed on March 22 in a press conference that the U.S. intelligence community “incidentally collected” information on Trump’s transition team, putting the information and names into various intelligence reports. His committee had been investigating whether Russia interfered in the U.S. election as well as how names of private citizens from these reports were leaked.
House Intelligence Ranking Member Adam Schiff, D-Calif., criticized Nunes for his handling of the investigation, claiming he should never have briefed Trump. Nunes apologized the following day, but said he briefed the president because the information he found was not related to Russia.
The minority members on the House Intelligence Committee were expected to visit a National Security Agency facility on Friday to view the same reports Nunes has seen, an intelligence source told Fox News.
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Starting with Safari 4, iPhone/iPad OS3, Chrome 5, and Opera 10.5 (Desktop), HTML5 Local Databases are now supported. I’ve been reading about local databases for quite some time and decided to do a write up with some basic examples on how to get started.
Setting up the Database
function initDatabase() { try { if (!window.openDatabase) { alert('Databases are not supported in this browser.'); } else { var shortName = 'DEMODB'; var version = '1.0'; var displayName = 'DEMO Database'; var maxSize = 100000; // bytes DEMODB = openDatabase(shortName, version, displayName, maxSize); createTables(); selectAll(); } } catch(e) { if (e == 2) { // Version number mismatch. console.log("Invalid database version."); } else { console.log("Unknown error "+e+"."); } return; } }
First we check if the browser supports the openDatabase method, is so we continue and define the database parameters:
shortName is the DB name as it will be referred to by the browser and SQL
is the DB name as it will be referred to by the browser and SQL version openDatabase version. 1.0 for this (more on that here)
openDatabase version. 1.0 for this (more on that here) displayName The full display name / description of the database
The full display name / description of the database maxSize This is max size in bytes is the size you expect the database to reach. This is essential for memory management purposes.
Next, we call the createTables(); function where the table is defined and pre-populated with initial data (optional).
Building the Table
function createTables(){ DEMODB.transaction( function (transaction) { transaction.executeSql('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS page_settings(id INTEGER NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, fname TEXT NOT NULL,bgcolor TEXT NOT NULL, font TEXT, favcar TEXT);', [], nullDataHandler, errorHandler); } ); prePopulate(); }
This basic function executes the executeSql method which runs as the CREATE TABLE query. The SQL syntax is based on SQLite so it should feel familiar to many Web & Mobile developers. For this demo, we are going to pre-populate the newly created page_settings table with some initial data:
function prePopulate(){ DEMODB.transaction( function (transaction) { //Optional Starter Data when page is initialized var data = ['1','none','#B3B4EF','Helvetica','Porsche 911 GT3']; transaction.executeSql("INSERT INTO page_settings(id, fname, bgcolor, font, favcar) VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?)", [data[0], data[1], data[2], data[3], data[4]]); } ); }
Note: although we don’t really need a PK for such a basic demo it will be there for future extensions and advancements.
Now the database is initialized, a table has been created and we have a row of default data inserted. Since the data is stored, you can now reload or page or close and reopen it and the data will remain. To visualize this in Safari, go to Develop > Show Web Inspector > Databases tab where you can view the database and its contents as they are added or changed.
Select the data
After the initial page load the data is stored and we run the selectAll() function to get the data:
function selectAll(){ DEMODB.transaction( function (transaction) { transaction.executeSql("SELECT * FROM page_settings;", [], dataSelectHandler, errorHandler); } ); }
The demo consists of only one row so we use * to grab everything from the database but please optimize your queries if you decide to use this example for your own projects.
function dataSelectHandler(transaction, results){ // Handle the results for (var i=0; i<results.rows.length; i++) { var row = results.rows.item(i); var newFeature = new Object(); newFeature.fname = row['fname']; newFeature.bgcolor = row['bgcolor']; newFeature.font = row['font']; newFeature.favcar = row['favcar']; $('body').css('background-color',newFeature.bgcolor); $('body').css('font-family',newFeature.font); $('#content').html('<h4 id="your_car">Your Favorite Car is a '+ newFeature.favcar +'</h4>'); if(newFeature.fname != 'none') { $('#greeting').html('Howdy-ho, '+ newFeature.fname+'!'); $('#fname').val(newFeature.fname); } $('select#font_selection').find('option[value='+newFeature.font+']').attr('selected','selected'); $('select#bg_color').find('option[value='+newFeature.bgcolor+']').attr('selected','selected'); $('select#fav_car').find('option[value='+newFeature.favcar+']').attr('selected','selected'); } }
This function loops through our data and uses a bit of jQuery to apply the specific values to CSS properties on the DOM. Going further, we set the HTML form defaults based on data with the help of jQuery.
Making updates
This function reads the form values, validates the text input and updates the database
function updateSetting(){ DEMODB.transaction( function (transaction) { if($('#fname').val() != '') { var fname = $('#fname').val(); } else { var fname = 'none'; } var bg = $('#bg_color').val(); var font = $('#font_selection').val(); var car = $('#fav_car').val(); transaction.executeSql("UPDATE page_settings SET fname=?, bgcolor=?, font=?, favcar=? WHERE id = 1", [fname, bg, font, car]); } ); selectAll(); }
Dropping the table
We could simply remove the row with a DELETE query but since we already check for the presence of data, it makes more sense to DROP the table:
function dropTables(){ DEMODB.transaction( function (transaction) { transaction.executeSql("DROP TABLE page_settings;", [], nullDataHandler, errorHandler); } ); location.reload(); }
After the table is dropped, the page is refreshed which triggers the initial database setup procedures defined earlier.
The demo:
View DemoDownload Source
Why should you use Local Databases?
→ They are fast, flexible and never expire. Developers can define the maximum size of the database and since all of the queries are run via JavaScript, no external server calls are required and unlike cookies and sessions, they persist until manually removed. → Unlike cookies and sessions, which are created on the server side and then stored in the browser, the information stored in a local database is truly local. → Safari and Opera’s local databases are based on SQLite and are threadsafe which prevents multiple instances of the data from being opened concurrently. → iPhone and iPad OS support local databases through their Mobile Safari browsers, making this storage platform ideal for mobile web apps. → From the UX perspective, the possibility of storing user and page settings and options locally, instantly and securely without the out the need to make external server or server side database calls is incredible. Since the HTML5 is widely supported in Webkit and Opera, there are nearly limitless possibilities for HTML5-based games and web apps.
Why should you NOT use Local Databases?
Local databases are a great way for you to simplify and improve your projects but they have a few obvious drawbacks:
→ Limited cross-browser support in the current form. At the time of this article, Safari 4, iPhone / iPad OS3, Chrome 5 and Opera 10.5 (Desktop) are the only mainstream browsers with support. → Not ideal for sensitive information. Sure, JavaScript can do MD5 and SHA1 hashing but if these guys can crack the code while listening to KoЯn, how safe do you feel? → Even though SQLite has been around for 10 years now, Webkit / Opera support is much newer and has consequently seen less vetting from those who would want to steal your data.
What about FireFox, Chrome and IE?
→ Firefox introduced support for localStorage in version 3.5 in the key-value pair format (similar to cookies and sessions) but has so far (and for the foreseeable future) stayed away from the SQL Database Storage model. More about that here, here and here → Internet Explorer has offered persistent storage support since IE5.5 which they’ve termed userData Behavior. This technique is very limited in features and has a maximum storage size of 128k per page. IE local storage improved in IE8 with the introduction of localStorage. Both IE local storage formats are key-value and there is currently no native local database support in IE—maybe in IE9?
→ Chrome was limited to implimentaiton via the Prior to version 4, local database storage support inwas limited to implimentaiton via the Google Gears API . Gears offers a very similar SQLite-based local storage component that works across most browsers including IE6+, FireFox, Opera and Safari. The Gears platform was created to let developers create web applications that can be used offline and also offers support for other features such as Canvas, Desktop support and Geolocation. The downside is that users must install the Google Gears browser extension on their machine before they can access these features. Additionally, Gears requires developers to include a JavaScript file in their application in order to use Gears which makes it a less than ideal choice for the low-bandwidth mobile web application world. More on the Google Gears Database API here *UPDATE* As January 2010 Chrome now offers full local database storage support natively in effort to move to a more standards-based approach. Gears is still being supported in its current form (no new development or further platform compatibility, though) for the time being. More information on this change can be found here. (Thanks for the correction, Colin)
Resources
The demo:
View DemoDownload Source
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I’ve been having a ball this week with the Komen shit-show. Not just because it was such a hideous blunder and there was so much hourly incompetence to chronicle, but because GOD DAMNED IT FEELS GOOD TO BE ON THE OFFENSIVE.
Say what you will about all the wingnutty things I said 2001-2005ish, at least I was looking for a fight with the opposition party and going after them. Since I became a Democrat, it seems like the only time we ever get our damned dander up is with other Democrats. The rest of the time we are on defensive, linking to logical explanations from TAPPED or Kevin Drum, talking about negotiating, etc. Or spending our time dealing with dipshits in our own party, like that jackass Rosen who tried to sink Sotomayor. Or we spend all our time angry about the stupid things teahadists do and say and snark about it, but nothing ever comes of it and they never pay a price. Or, as often is the case at this website, wailing about our worthless media.
This time, though, was different. It was nice to watch everyone go for blood, and sink their teeth in and get some. That’s what we need in the Democratic party. We need a killer instinct. We need to stop putting up with this bullshit from these crazy people. We need to fight back, we need to start running for local elections and state elections and running the show, and we need to go after them every chance we can. We don’t have to stoop to lies and innuendo, we can go after them with the truth, just like we did this time. They are lying about tax and regulatory burdens. They are lying about social security. They are lying about Obamacare and Medicare and Medicaid. They are lying about the environment and global warming. They are lying about poor people and black people and gay people and immigrants. They are lying about Obama. They are lying about everything.
There is nothing noble or wise about trying to have rational arguments, or acting like the mature people when you are dealing with fanatics. This stuff is important. You should be pissed off and fighting mad.
God damned this feels good for a change. God damn I am fired up for November 2012. No prisoners. No backing down. Republicans don’t want to negotiate or govern with you, they want you dead. So either reach down and grab a pair and fight back, or take what they give you. Your choice. I’ve made mine. And as we have seen this week, if you fight, and you don’t put up with the bullshit, people will join you and we will win.
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The beheading of American journalist James Foley is part of the tragic and bloody trail ISIS is leaving behind. But its effect on Western opinion about ISIS and the need to eradicate it is significant. Not because an American journalist was murdered; but because it was done by someone who seems British; by someone from the West who may one day – if he survives – return to the West.
When ISIS first made its appearance early this year it was considered another militant movement and largely a local matter; a problem for the region’s countries. Then it suddenly expanded its reach, but even then it was still perceived as a local problem, albeit raising more concern. The United States pledged support against ISIS on the condition that a united Iraq fights it. The Iraqis didn’t unite and ISIS continued to grow, and its brutality only increased. Only when it threatened Yazidis with ethnic cleansing did the United States intervene, without waiting for the Iraqis to unite.
We in the region could not understand why the West was not actively intervening against ISIS. We kept hearing about European concerns about the rising number of their citizens participating in the fighting in Syria and Iraq; yet without any visible or effective intervention. Ultimately, ISIS is our problem. And though military intervention is vital for eradicating its military capacity, it is up to the governments and peoples of the region to minimize the factors that enable such movements to expand and gain popular legitimacy.
Combating ISIS
One of the ways some of the Gulf countries – especially Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – has been combating Islamic militancy is through the enactment of laws that make it illegal to belong to transnational Islamic organizations, such as the Muslim Brotherhood. They hope that this will limit forms of international recruitment and financing for all forms of militant groups, not just the Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia’s new anti- terrorism law made it impossible for anyone to belong to a terrorist organization or to support their ideology or promote their cause. The law has been criticized for its potential use against local Saudi dissidents who are peaceful. I think such fears are reasonable, but considering the deep-rooted threat of Islamic militancy, there may be no other way to legally fight it without expecting collateral damage to innocent people. But laws enacted in the region cannot work alone. Many of those being attracted to ISIS do not belong to the region. Should the West begin to rethink its terrorism laws in the wake of ISIS?
ISIS and the discourse of Victimization
Many argue that laws are not enough. They want to see a fundamental change in the religious culture that glorifies death and martyrdom for the sake of God. For more than 80 years millions of Muslims have been indoctrinated into the belief that the greatest personal wish is to die in battle, to be a martyr. The solution suggested here is to change the educational system and introduce a new version of Islam, one which does not have at its center on the idea of an ongoing “jihad” against everyone and everything.
Such an approach is important and would be very helpful. But it misses the mark in my view. I don’t believe that religion motivates universal jihadism, it is rather a means to justify it for people who in their hearts believe that they are the target of an onslaught from the West. This is such a deep-rooted belief, common to so many in the region, religious or not.
The idea that the West is an eternal enemy has become part of the popular culture.
We are stuck in the moments when Napoleon entered Egypt, when the imperial powers of the West worked against the Ottoman Empire until it fell, and when most of the Muslim countries were colonized. A speech written in the late 19th century by Islamic political leader and philosopher Jamal al-Deen al-Afghani warning of Western powers resonates perfectly well with people living in the early 21st century. A complete discourse of victimization was built around that and lives on. Mainstream political analysis is merely a way of explaining how current Western political behavior is really a continuation of moments in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. It is such a discourse that attracts people from different parts of the world to movements such as ISIS or Al--Qaeda or other militant organizations.
As long as you have hundreds of millions of people believing in the discourse of victimization you would always have a few thousand of them willing to go to extremes to gain their liberty. If we want to eradicate ISIS and its likes, we need to focus all our attention on that discourse otherwise we would be wasting our resources on what people use to justify themselves rather than focusing on what actually motivates them to go and fight whenever they get the chance.
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Abdullah Hamidaddin is a writer and commentator on religion, Middle Eastern societies and politics with a focus on Saudi Arabia and Yemen. He is currently a PhD candidate in King’s College London. He can be followed on Twitter: @amiq1
Last Update: Friday, 22 August 2014 KSA 12:43 - GMT 09:43
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (L) shakes hands with Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance at the conclusion of a press conference on new corruption legislation on April 9, 2013 in New York City. Cuomo announced the Public Trust Act which would establish a new class of corruption crimes and require officials to report corruption.
New Yorkers recently learned that Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance declined — against the recommendations of his staff — to prosecute two Trump children for fraud. (Trump attorneys made donations to Vance's campaign.)
Vance chose not to prosecute Harvey Weinstein for a vile sexual assault (and accepted donations from Weinstein associates).
And when Manhattan voters realized that the party system had afforded them no other choice for a DA candidate but Vance, they started to look for alternative choices. They started to ask why an unchallenged DA needed to raise so much money in the first place. Many New York voters are prepared to demand that they never be placed in this position again.
The first question “insurgent” candidates like me are asked by endorsing groups is, “How much money have you raised, and how much will you raise?” My recent experience as a candidate for Brooklyn District Attorney, as well as my current adventure as a drafted “write-in” candidate for Manhattan District Attorney, enable me to report directly from the front lines on the urgent need for campaign finance reform in elections for local prosecutors. Here's the bad news: Qualified candidates without access to big money are virtually precluded from running against incumbents.
Incumbents receive big contributions from those invested in maintaining the status quo, and challengers can never come close to having a war chest that measures up. In this scenario, even if an endorser or donor might consider the “insurgent” to be a better candidate, they can't be considered viable. As endorsements come rolling in, the local party heads line up behind the incumbent and the money keeps flowing. Meanwhile, state legislators refuse to implement term limits or institute common sense campaign finance reforms that will address public concerns about pay-to-play tactics. Voters who haven’t considered the daily decisions of their prosecutors or the enormity of their power over individual lives may skip the polls on election day — much to the benefit of the incumbent.
The losers in this scenario are of course the folks who have been perpetually denied access to equal justice and those who are compelled to fight for them. As a result, substantive criminal justice reform that will address the daily tragedies playing out on both sides of the criminal courtrooms has not been undertaken. Establishment candidates cherry pick piecemeal reforms to create the illusion of change, and business carries on as usual.
Why is it, then, that I remain doggedly hopeful that change can come?
Well, it seems the people — the voters — have had enough. They are watching the chilling Trump show play out daily, shaking their heads at his strident determination to roll back rights we had accepted as certain and reject human values that we had come to see as natural. They see a self-congratulatory old white boys’ club at work in Washington, and they are drawing clear parallels with the dynamics at play in their own communities. Understanding that they have a genuine opportunity to affect policy and practice at the local level, that are asserting themselves to fight for their communities. The successful primary campaign by Larry Krasner in Philadelphia is a beacon of hope. As in Manhattan, voters were disgusted by corruption in their DA’s office.
Is the criminal justice system “fixable” with some vision and courage? Absolutely. If the people demand not only that state and local governments impose term limits and fundraising regulation, but also that individual candidates reject murky contributions, great candidates will have room to challenge otherwise unopposed incumbents. If candidates hold their moral and ethical compasses firmly in hand once honored with office, they will dig in on bail reform, alternatives to incarceration, proper charging and fair discovery practices. And if they want to get reelected (for a single term), they will have to produce.
Here in New York, assistant district attorneys begin court appearances by identifying themselves as representatives of the “People” — not the “State” or the “Government,” but the “People.” The indictments signed by the elected District Attorneys say the same. If the parties and the voters demand that candidates for an office never lose sight of who it is they work for, the people’s demand for progress on criminal justice reform can be realized.
Marc Fliedner is a write-in candidate for Manhattan DA against incumbent Cy Vance Jr. He has 30 years experience as a prosecutor and civil rights attorney, and if elected, he would be the first openly gay male DA in the country.
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Lionel Messi will skip the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in six months because his coach Gerardo Martino says he needs some rest.
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Martino on Monday spoke on Argentina radio station La Red and said Messi will play in the Centennial Copa America tournament in the United States, but not the Olympics in Brazil.
“Messi will not go to the Olympic Games,” said Martino, who said it was “too much” for the Barcelona star to play in both events and also World Cup qualifiers.
The Centennial Copa America begins June 3, and the Olympics open two months later on Aug. 5.
“We have the Copa America, the Olympic Games, and World Cup qualifiers in September, October and November,” Martino said.
He also mentioned Barcelona’s heavy schedule in various tournaments, adding to the wear-and-tear on the Argentine.
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Messi is 28 and could have been picked to the Olympic team as one of three over-23 age players.
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A wave crashed over the tidal wall along the boardwalk Saturday as Hurricane Irene approached Ocean City, Md. (Ricky Carioti/Washington Post)
With less than $1 billion currently available for federal disaster assistance, the Federal Emergency Management Agency is temporarily suspending payments to rebuild roads, schools and other structures destroyed during spring tornadoes in Joplin, Mo. and southern states in order to pay for damage caused by Hurricane Irene.
FEMA will still pay people eligible for individual storm assistance and some states recouping emergency response costs from previous disasters. But the agency said it will place restrictions on paying for older longer-term public rebuilding and mitigation projects in order to ensure the solvency of the federal disaster relief fund, which pays for emergency management costs and public rebuilding projects.
The decision affects the spring tornadoes and disasters dating back several years and “prioritizes the immediate, urgent needs of survivors and states when preparing for or responding to a disaster,” said FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Racusen.
The federal government similarly suspended some disaster payments in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2010, according to FEMA.
Overnight, President Obama signed federal emergency declarations for the District of Columbia and Delaware, opening a stream of funding to pay for emergency response efforts there. Ten states, the District and Puerto Rico have applied for federal emergency assistance since last week.
Also late Saturday, Obama declared a major disaster in Puerto Rico, a move that makes money available to individuals affected by Irene’s destruction.
The White House is expected to declare similar disasters in other states as soon as today, further sapping money from the relief fund, which currently has about $900 million, below the $1 billion officials prefer to keep on hand.
The shortfall means the Obama administration will soon request supplemental funding from Congress, likely causing another fight over federal spending as a new “supercommittee” prepares to identify trillions of dollars in government spending cuts.
Already House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) has said that any new money for FEMA will be offset by spending cuts elsewhere.
“We’ve had discussions about these things before and [FEMA] monies will be offset with appropriate savings or cost-cutting elsewhere in order to meet the priority of the federal government’s role in a situation like this,” Cantor said at a news conference last week after an earthquake struck his congressional district.
On Saturday, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) urged the Senate to quickly approve the House GOP version of the annual Homeland Security spending measure that includes $1 billion for additional disaster funding this year and $2.65 billion for fiscal 2012.
"Time and time again, the [Obama] administration has ignored the obvious funding needs of the Disaster Relief Fund, purposefully and irresponsibly underfunding the account and putting families and communities who have suffered from terrible disasters on the back burner," Rogers said. "Now the administration has let the fund reach critically low levels, putting continued recovery at risk, without a plan for the future or a clear method for dealing with new disasters."
Ahead of the money crunch, FEMA began providing weekly updates to congressional appropriators on funding shortfalls in May; daily updates began this month, an agency official said Sunday.
Several other agencies also provide funding after natural disasters, including the Small Business Administration and departments of Housing and Urban Development and Agriculture, but their current funding levels were not immediately known.
Follow Ed O’Keefe on Twitter: @edatpost
Read more at PostPolitics and the Fed Page.
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Vice President Joe Biden held up traffic around Los Angeles for a second day on Tuesday, but it was President Obama himself on the minds of many Southern California drivers as bumper stickers began appearing on area cars featuring the word Ebola with the Obama logo replacing the letter "o."
The scathing stickers come on the eve of President Obama's Thursday trip to LA for a fundraiser at the home of Gwyneth Paltrow and on the same day that the LATimes reports that it may be premature for Mr. Obama's government to declare that the deadly Ebola virus is not transmitted by air.
Dr. C.J. Peters, who battled a 1989 outbreak of the virus among research monkeys housed in Virginia and who later led the CDC's most far-reaching study of Ebola's transmissibility in humans, said he would not rule out the possibility that it spreads through the air in tight quarters. "We just don't have the data to exclude it," said Peters, who continues to research viral diseases at the University of Texas in Galveston.
Whatever the case, at least some Southland drivers seem convinced that the President's policy on stopping the virus to-date have not inspired confidence.
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When it comes to managing infrastructure deployments of a certain size, even a ninja sysadmin can't do it all without some help. In fact, one might argue that knowing when and how to use IT automation tools for managing infrastructure is a prerequisite to getting your admin blackbelt. Enter Puppet.
Puppet is an open source framework for templating repetitive tasks to save time and make them easy to document, modify, and replicate. And it's backed by a company that provides enterprise support while still conducting their development out in the open.
One area where Puppet has seen strong adoption is with deploying OpenStack. I spoke with Chris Hoge, Senior Software Engineer for OpenStack at Puppet Labs, to learn a bit about Puppet and how it can be used to automate processes for OpenStack installation and management.
How did you get started working on OpenStack and Puppet?
I came from the University of Oregon where I administered a research OpenStack installation, and it was deployed using Puppet. That’s where I got my start with OpenStack back in the Essex [release] days. I was admin of the production Folsom installation, then I upgraded to Grizzly. And when the funding for that project ran out at the university, it was a great opportunity for me to come and continue the network at Puppet Labs. I’ve been here since June of last year, and I’ve been taking over the efforts of the Puppet OpenStack modules and the community of developers which has grown up around these modules.
Tell us a little bit about Puppet as a software tool.
So, Puppet is a tool that is used for the configuration of anything. It’s a part of a movement that we would call DevOps. You specify what you want an instance to look like in a declarative language that lets you specify in as platform-independent way as possible what you want this instance to look like.
How does Puppet Labs work with the open source community?
Puppet Labs follows the proven model of doing development on our products in the open with the open source community. So all of our major products—Puppet, MCollective, Hiera, Facter—all of these things are developed out in the open, and we produce open source versions of these. This is a way for us to have a lot of visibility in the community and have a lot of feedback as to how the projects should grow and what direction they should go in. What Puppet Enterprise does is it takes all of these open source projects and bundles them together in a way that makes it easier to use the projects together, but it also gives you a support channel so that you can have large, institutional deployments of Puppet and all of its related tools, and be sure that you’re going to have professional and timely support.
How does Puppet help with OpenStack deployment and management?
Where the Puppet OpenStack modules really excel is in the deployment of OpenStack. This is a project that has been going on for quite some time now. We’ve been through several releases. A survey was conducted at the previous OpenStack Summit in Hong Kong, and it turned out that the Puppet OpenStack modules were the number one way that people were using to install and manage their OpenStack installation. This is because there are a lot really fantastic tools out there that are building on the modules. If you look at work that groups like Red Hat and Cisco are doing, where they’re taking the modules and extending them. There are a number of really great things that the modules do. They actually allow you to manage your infrastructure.
A few examples of this are being able to manage Keystone, where tenants, roles, and users can all be managed within Puppet code. We have custom pipes and providers that allow you to treat users and tenants as resources. This is also true for Neutron, where you have these abstractions of networks and subnets and ports and all of these can be managed with Puppet resources so that when you bring your OpenStack installation up you can already have your public and private networks available to your tenants completely defined. And not only during installation. You can also add and create new ones and destroy those networks as you need. And so it ends up being a really powerful tool for integrating with things like software defined networking (SDN), which is really interesting to me.
Tell me a little bit more about the Software Defined Networking modules.
That’s been one of the really exciting things that’s been going on with Neutron development and the ML2 framework where you’re taking the idea of networking and you’re trying to abstract away "how am I implementing my network"—is that through hardware, is that through virtual software switches?—and giving you an API layer to interact with that. And so it’s really exciting when we’re able to build types of providers on top of the interface that Neutron is already giving to us. When you have your network that is backed by whatever hardware vendor you’re using or whatever software implementation that you’re using behind that, you can define what you want your networks to look like. You can define the networks and the subnets, and have that be available and be managed through a central location, in a fairly straightforward declarative language.
What are some of the other modules you have which work with OpenStack? Do you have one for all of the major OpenStack components?
Effectively, we track every project that goes into the core OpenStack distribution, so of course that means that we’re going to have modules for Keystone, Nova, Glance, Swift, Neutron—your primary OpenStack projects. We also have modules that target Heat, Ceilometer, Tempest—these newer projects that you’re seeing being pulled into the OpenStack ecosystem. Essentially what we’re trying to do is that every time that a project goes from incubated status into [the core of] OpenStack, we’d like to have a module in place that targets the installation and management of that service.
How does your release schedule line up with the release schedule of OpenStack itself?
In the past, we’ve generally lagged a few months behind the release of the core OpenStack project. One of the things that I’ve been tasked with, and that I’ve been working fairly hard on, is accelerating that release cycle. This means improving our own testing structure internally here so that Puppet Labs, who curates the release of these modules, can increase our cadence on matching the release of the modules up with the release of OpenStack. We’ve taken ourselves from where it has taken weeks to validate these modules to where I can validate a module with the public repository over the course of a few hours. And so that’s actually what I’m working on right now, so that I can have a full release of the stable Puppet OpenStack Icehouse modules ready by the time we all arrive at the Summit.
It sounds like Puppet is going to be an active part of OpenStack Summit next week?
Yes. There are a number of things that we’re going to be doing there. The first is that we have a booth there, as we have for several Summits now. We’re also going to be doing a fifteen minute theater demonstration. But there also are a couple of exciting things that are going to be new this year that are targeted towards operators and developers. The first is that there’s going to be an Ops Summit, and Puppet is going to have a presence at that on Friday, May 16, at 3pm.
There was also a program that we piloted last year that was a Puppet OpenStack Design Summit meeting specifically for Puppet OpenStack. This is something that we just put together on our own, and we had some tremendous attendance to it. A lot of developers from all over wound up coming to this. We set our plans for the next year and really treated it like a traditional OpenStack Design Summit. This turned into a larger program, where a lot of open source projects who are related to OpenStack were able to have space and time set aside by the foundation so that could meet and plan their own projects. The Puppet OpenStack developer session is going to be meeting on Tuesday, May 13, from 2:50 - 6:10pm.
Outside of getting the modules updated for Icehouse, what other new features are you working on?
New Sahara and Trove modules are something that we’re very interested in working towards. I’m also personally interested in expanding our types and providers, so we can capture more of the resources that we can manage in your OpenStack cluster, particularly being able to provision machines from Nova directly from Puppet code. There’s also a huge amount of interest within the community for providing high availability for OpenStack, and that’s something that’s going to be one of my top priorities for the Juno cycle.
Is your community participating in the Puppet OpenStack project?
Absolutely! In fact, this is one of those things where we get a tremendous amount of code from outside of Puppet Labs. There are so many different organizations which are using the modules in production, and we are keeping track of where it is going, and so we get almost all of our contributions from outside of Puppet Labs actually. Which for me is another thing that is really exciting about this. The Puppet OpenStack modules are really and truly a widely distributed open source project.
That’s really the magic bullet, isn’t it? Get something started with a cool idea and your community will practically write it for you?
Yeah, absolutely! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to myself, "I need to implement this new feature," and then it feels like literally within minutes of thinking that to myself, a pull request comes in for it. It’s really fun to see that.
Where can we learn more?
I’d really encourage anybody who is interested in the modules to take a look at what we’re doing, whether that be from an operator’s point of view or a developer’s point of view. We have a new Puppet Labs OpenStack module that’s going to be coming out for the Icehouse release, which is going to give people a really good start for getting OpenStack installed but also give them an understanding of how they can use and extend the modules for their own environment.
We’re developing all of the source code out there on StackForge, and so people are welcome to come, join, and contribute. We also have a Puppet OpenStack mailing list that they can become involved with, and get updates on where development is going. We also have a Puppet OpenStack IRC channel (#puppet-openstack on Freenode) if they wanted to stop by with any immediately questions.
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Reading the gaming press recently, one cannot help being reminded of an iconic quote by the famously nonviolent Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi – “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Having dismissed gamers as being unworthy, basement dwelling subhumans who are “over” and whose identity is dead, then having ridiculed #Gamergate even through the mouth of Stephen Colbert, and now apparently having only just realized that none of this made a dent in their opponents’ determination, it seems that the press, the feminist cultural elites that so many of them seek to defend, and the internet users acting as their footsoldiers have moved solidly into the third phase of Gandhi’s progression.
Whether the fourth will be reached is anyone’s guess, but given that no amount of public seems to register with #Gamergate, and that the movement has been prematurely declared dead so many times that it could give Mario a run for his money in extra lives, the prognosis is less grim than it might appear. It certainly does not hurt that the movement has found a new martyr in the form of Philae probe scientist Dr. Matt Taylor, who recently broke down in tears after being savaged for wearing a shirt featuring scantily clad cartoon women in an interview. Seeing this ideologically-motivated bullying (correctly) as yet another front in the “war on nerds,” #Gamergate has taken up arms to offer succor and defense to Dr. Taylor, and may well have found the poster child for ideological harassment that they have desperately needed in the process.
However, while the movement’s victory is something any defender of free expression ought to support and welcome, for anyone willing to look past the noise and clickbait surrounding #Gamergate and address the ordinary users on both sides of the issue, a more nuanced and more saddening picture emerges of two movements dominated by well-meaning people who are simply talking past each other. The existence of high profile voices acting in terribly bad faith on both sides only amplifies this problem, to say nothing of the fact that vicious, systematic, untraceable, anonymous attacks (again from both sides) make any prospect of a ceasefire virtually impossible.
#Gamergate and its partisans correctly perceive a broad-based attack on their hobbies and safe spaces by an increasingly ideologically motivated, culturally alien media. It is no secret at this point that this author regards that crusade as morally and intellectually just.
However, simply engaging with the subreddits used by partisans on both side of this issue – Kotakuinaction for #Gamergaters and Gamerghazi for their critics – reveal not only real grievances on the part of #Gamergate, but a surprisingly nuanced counterargument by their opponents, to which the media sources on their side have done a disservice. There are real intellectual issues in contention here, and many Gamerghazi users recognize them admirably.
These intellectually honest souls are owed their day in court, because the righteousness of #Gamergate does not automatically grant them license to commit tactical or ideological missteps. In fact, a moral movement must be self-critical, and #Gamergate is, as evidenced by the fact that reception this author’s own (highly pro-#Gamergate) article, while largely positive, nevertheless also included critical responses by #Gamergaters, some of which illuminated blind spots of which the author had been unaware. This is not a movement looking for stenographers, but for critics in good faith, and so while one can offer counter-arguments to the points expressed here, #Gamergaters should not skim over the genuine critiques. Moral righteousness is necessary but not sufficient for the triumph of a movement, and those wishing to create the best mass movement owe it to themselves to consider areas where their message has been distorted or misread.
That being said, rejoinders must be offered, for while these criticisms are enlightening, they are ultimately still misguided for reasons that will become clear. Without further ado, then, here are several “inconvenient truths” about #Gamergate suggested by their critics, as well as an explanation for why these facts, while troubling, ultimately fail to undermine the movement’s credibility.
Let’s start with arguably the most controversial issues, as well as the one with least merit: The issues of sex and race. In a previous article on this consumer revolt, I described #Gamergate this way:
It is a revolt by more than gamers. It is a revolt by the socially awkward, mostly white, mostly male, highly educated, often non-neurotypical cluster of subcultural enthusiasts whose new Jerusalem is Silicon Valley, whose holy texts are video games and comic books, and whose religion is modernist reason.
Now, even when they broadly appreciated the article, #Gamergate’s defenders were less than enthusiastic about this particular portion. In fact, looking at the reaction on Reddit and in the comments section of the article, one question kept emerging: “What about #Notyourshield?”
A little explanation is in order: #Notyourshield is a subset of #Gamergate’s members who emerged in response to the accusation that the movement solely represented the interests of straight, white men, and therefore that it was a reactionary ideological rearguard designed to protect the interests of the privileged.
Infuriated by the fact that minority interests were being used as a “shield” for criticisms of #Gamergate by such figures as Phil Fish, Ben Kuchera, Stephen Totilo and Sam Biddle, all of whom are also (to this author’s knowledge) straight, as well as white and male, as well as by the harassment that many of them encountered for being minority defenders of #Gamergate, #Notyourshield was born. The hashtag is meant to be used in the context of phrases like “I’m a black female lesbian, I play games, and I’m #Notyourshield.” In fact, for all this author knows, such a person may have Tweeted precisely that phrase. The hashtag is far too active to read through the whole thing and be sure.
However, despite the fact that #Notyourshield certainly represents a nontrivial portion of #Gamergate’s population, and that failing to note its existence in the previous piece was a careless omission, the author stands by the passage quoted above as still probably an accurate description of the movement as a whole, at least with respect to sex, and probably also with regard to race, though not assuredly so.
Why? Well, a few #Gamergaters already worked it out when they urged their fellows to note the adverbs: “mostly” white and “mostly” male. That is to say, a majority of #Gamergate is probably white, and a majority of it is probably male. This does not suggest that #Gamergate has no non-white and no non-male participants at all. Rather, it simply suggests that over 50 percent of the movement meets these specifications.
No scientific poll has yet been taken of #Gamergate to determine its makeup. However, insofar as the movement looks anything like the gaming community as a whole, it is almost certainly majority male. Even the most optimistic estimates put the percentage of female video game players at 48 percent – a large number, to be sure, but not a majority. Moreover, these numbers tend to include everyone from “Angry Birds” players to people who can quote the history of the Mario universe chapter and verse in the “gamer” category. Given that #Gamergate appears to be primarily a revolt by longtime, devoted game consumers who probably fit more into the latter category than the former, and that that group is more likely to be male than the mobile game market, it seems overwhelmingly likely that the movement is majority male, even if only by a few points.
Race is less certain. A 2011 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation showed that African American youth between the ages of 8 and 18 play on average 30 more minutes per day of video games than white youth. The advantage remained when the category was broadened to everyone between the ages of 18 and 49. Hispanic youth also play on average 10 minutes more than their white counterparts, though as a whole, Hispanics spend less time on the hobby. Asian Americans, meanwhile, are the fourth most frequent players, according to the same study. Given these facts, if #Gamergate is a movement by hardcore gamers, it probably has a very racially diverse makeup, and may even include slightly more minorities than whites. However, due to the fact that whites still make up a numeric majority in the United States, as well as in Australia and Europe (though this is not likely to remain the case for much longer), it seems safe to presume that #Gamergate, being primarily a Western phenomenon, holds to the same patterns.
More to the point, even if a poll were to find that #Gamergate is made up of 90 percent black lesbians, the fact remains that this would not actually refute the philosophical arguments of its detractors. In fact, while #Notyourshield and its members are highly persuasive examples of the willingness of gamers to accept diversity in their ranks, when it comes to refuting the hypotheses of its more identity politics-minded opponents, their existence is at best irrelevant and at worst actually a concession to the movement’s enemies.
Why? Because saying “this movement can’t represent the interests of white males because there are non-white males in it” implicitly concedes that advocating for the interests of white males is inherently suspect, which it obviously is not. In other words, when #Gamergate’s Social Justice Warrior (SJW) opponents say, “#Gamergate is a movement of white men, therefore its aims are reactionary and racist,” and its opponents reply, “Nuh uh, look at #Notyourshield,” they are implicitly conceding that if the movement were a movement of white men, its aims would necessarily be reactionary and racist.” By only attacking the premise of the argument, they fail to disprove the conclusion, and this makes their position weaker.
So well done to #Gamergate’s critics for probably being right on the demographics. Yes, #Gamergate is probably majority white and male. However, this fact actually obscures more than it illuminates about the movement, and about the inconsistent, lazy way in which its opponents apply their own ideology. Because make no mistake, the argumentative leap made by many of #Gamergate’s opponents from this fact is completely wrong. For examples of this, consider a Kotaku article which calls straight, white masculinity the “lowest difficulty setting” on life, or an article from Cracked that snidely points out that #Gamergate is claiming to be oppressed, despite the fact that its majority demographic (white males) control the levers of global power, which supposedly proves that oppressing its members is impossible.
Ironically, both these arguments commit what their SJW defenders would find to be cardinal sins in other circumstances – namely, identity erasure through generalizing. As an example of why I say this would be called a cardinal sin, consider the following: On August 19, 2004, Zoe Quinn, creator of the suspiciously well-reviewed game known as “Depression Quest” and arguably #Gamergate’s initial bete noir, tweeted “Regardless of what I have or haven’t done, if you treat other women badly because of anything I’ve said or done, THAT’S TEXTBOOK MISOGYNY.” She followed this up with “If you’re trying to make ME responsible for YOURS or ANYONE’S shitty views on women, you should stop making all women responsible for one.”
Quite correct, though as we’ll see later, Quinn has trouble following her own advice. But for now, let’s just admit she’s completely right: The characteristics of a few people don’t automatically apply to an entire demographic group, whether it be a racial, sexual or even hobby-oriented one. To suggest otherwise is a fallacy of composition.
And yet, it’s one that both the above articles commit. Start with the Kotaku article. The author writes:
Okay: In the role playing game known as The Real World, “Straight White Male” is the lowest difficulty setting there is. This means that the default behaviors for almost all the non-player characters in the game are easier on you than they would be otherwise. The default barriers for completions of quests are lower. Your leveling-up thresholds come more quickly. You automatically gain entry to some parts of the map that others have to work for. The game is easier to play, automatically, and when you need help, by default it’s easier to get.
To illustrate the problem here, let’s use the roleplaying game metaphor because it’s actually surprisingly elegant.
Here’s the thing about the “difficulty settings” in question: They get patched ever 50 or so years. Sometimes entire difficulty settings, like “Straight Irish Male,” just get subsumed by others. Often, they change difficulty. “Straight Jewish Male” used to be much harder than “Straight White Male,” but depending on who you ask, it’s either become easier than it used to be while still being hard, now defaults to “Straight White Male,” or according to some rather unsavory people is even easier than “Straight White Male.” It’s not clear how hard the “Asian” difficulty settings are, though some people (but not all) seem to think they’ve been subsumed into the “White” category just like the Irish were. Bottom line: What the game calls “White” today is not necessarily what was called “White” in previous patches, which means that a lot of the extra points that “White” people are presumed to get through history by authors like the Kotaku writer don’t actually accrue to everyone who plays that difficulty setting.
Moreover, this roleplaying game has no distinction between co-operative play and Player Versus Player (PVP) play, and there’s nothing like the Alliance or Horde. In fact, even within your own race or sex, you’re not necessarily safe from PVP, no matter which race or sex that is. This means that tribal rivalries start to form both on an interracial and intraracial basis in the game between what we’ll call “guilds,” metaphorically speaking. These “guilds” tend to select on the basis of how many points your character started with in, say, income, or strength, or charisma, or intelligence, or on the basis of what perks you got to start with (“Good at Sports” versus “Good at Science”) .
And here’s the thing: Some of these guilds automatically give you more points than others. Starting with a ton of points in charisma, for instance, might put you in the “movie star” guild, and as a result you might end up having an easier time winning the game than someone who started on a technically “higher” difficulty setting, and any new players you bring into the game will get your advantages. This is why, if the “Colin Powell” player brings a new player into the game, that player will probably have a much easier time winning the game than a new player that some random Appalachian coal miner brings into the game, even if the Appalachian started on “Straight White Male” and the new “Powell” player started on “Gay Black Woman.”
In other words, if you’re confused about where the metaphor’s gone, if Colin Powell had a lesbian daughter, the fact that she’s his daughter would still make her life much easier than the son of a poor Appalachian coal miner. Moreover, if you’re born into a Jewish or Irish family, your family might still have suffered oppression and been set back for not being “white” according to an earlier definition of the term, despite the fact that you’re considered “white” in our modern day understanding, meaning that you might not have all the same cultural markers as other white people. Similarly, if your family were immigrants from Nigeria, you’re unlikely to suffer a lot of the disadvantages that accrue to African Americans whose family were brought over as slaves, especially with respect to education. In fact, to quickly dive back into the metaphor, if you started as a “Straight Nigerian American Male,” you probably start with more points than even the people who start as “Straight White Male” in Appalachia. These are the kind of individual distinctions that the Kotaku article completely airbrushes.
The Cracked article is even worse. To quote it:
Yes — white people won’t be the majority by the time your kid is having kids. No — that doesn’t mean they’re being oppressed this very second. Or at all. Or doing anything other than making up 60 percent of guests on Sunday political TV shows, 77 percent of Academy Awards voting members, 64 percent of the news media, and 90 percent of lawmakers. That is the opposite of an oppressed group.
This argument is so silly that it dances close to being insulting. Suppose someone had said to the Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide, “What are you talking about, you’re not being oppressed, black people are in charge of the government!”
No, no one in America is as oppressed as the Tutsis, but you can see how ridiculous the argument is when put it this way. The fact that white people are 60 percent of guests on Sunday political TV shows, 77 percent of Academy Awards voting members, 64 percent of the news media and 90 percent of lawmakers tells us absolutely nothing about whether a particular subgroup within the “white” cluster is oppressed anymore than saying “the president and attorney general are black” tells us anything about the struggles of, say, black people in Ferguson, Missouri.
Especially not with respect to #Gamergate. Why? Well, take the lawmakers point. Does anyone believe that John Boehner gives a damn about #Gamergate? Does anyone believe that any legislator does? Or put another way, do we think legislators consider “gamers” a constituency worth talking to at all?
Well, here’s one way we can tell: Take an issue that gamers care deeply about and see how legislators have acted on it.
Let’s go back to Zoe Quinn for a second. One of the complaints that Quinn’s critics levy against her is that she’s used frivolous copyright claims to shut down people who criticize her.
So how do those 90 percent of lawmakers that the Cracked author, David Christopher Bell, is so anxious to shove in #Gamergate’s face act where copyright is concerned? Well, the fact that it took a massive citizens’ revolt to stop legislators from passing a bill that would literally censor the internet – a bill that has the dubious distinction of being defended by multiple Congressmen with the phrase “I’m not a nerd,” and that also happened to be backed by the trade association that represents those 77 percent of Academy Awards voting members — suggests that maybe, just maybe, there might be a reason why the people in #Gamergate don’t feel reassured by the large number of white people in Congress and in the Academy.
In fact, it’s almost as if not all people of a given race have identical interests, and some of them – like, you know, people whose interest in technology only just became lucrative, have a history of being bullied both on and offline, are savaged with stereotypes and slurs by media that covers their own hobby, and who are often the first to suffer when, say schools make budget cuts – might still have reason to feel oppressed. Who’da thunk it? It’s almost like Zoe Quinn was right to say that looking at one particular person or group of people within a group doesn’t give you data on the entire group – unless she’s talking about gamers, in which case she’ll create Chrome extensions to attack the entire group for the missteps of a few members. But hey, baby steps.
What is worse still about this particular controversy, however, is that some of the people on the anti-Gamergate side claim to be supporting tolerance and diversity, and fighting against bullying, despite literally behaving like bullies themselves. This absolute intellectual dishonesty is perhaps best exemplified by Anita Sarkeesian and Arthur Chu. In her recent appearance on the Colbert Report, for instance, the following exchange took place between Sarkeesian and Colbert:
Colbert: As a man, am I allowed to be a feminist?
Sarkeesian: Do you believe that women should have equal rights to men?
Colbert: Sure.
Sarkeesian: And that we should fight for those rights?
Colbert: Sure.
Sarkeesian: Great, then you’re a feminist.
This is a classic case of the “motte and bailey” fallacy, or the fallacy of claiming to only support a noncontroversial position when one’s ideological position is attacked, but then using that supposedly noncontroversial ideology as cover to push highly controversial opinions. How do you suppose Colbert would have acted, for instance, if the exchange had gone like this:
Colbert: As a man, am I allowed to be a feminist?
Sarkeesian: Do you believe there’s no such thing as sexism against men because men are the dominant gender in society?
You be the judge of what would have happened next, but it probably wouldn’t have been a handshake and induction of Colbert into the feminist hall of fame. Is it really unreasonable to believe that a woman who believes men are completely incapable of facing sexism, even though literal hate tracts calling for the genocide of men exist, is a bully?
And then there’s Chu, a man whose public persona seems to be constantly oriented toward portraying himself patronizingly as a former bullying victim who “gets” #Gamergate’s pain, and yet in more private settings openly celebrates using “war and fire” against ideological opponents, attacks rational discourse as “debate team nonsense,” defends the use of false rape statistics, and advocates leaking ideological opponents’ personal information onto the web. Apparently Chu took his own experience as a bullying victim as a “how-to” manual rather than a cautionary tale.
Let’s not mince words: Even if #Gamergate were made up entirely of people who look like this author (who apparently looks so much like a preppy, privileged “archetypal tormenter-of-nerds” as to resemble Christian Bale – thanks #Gamergate critics!), when it comes to the fact that the media seems to only lob one-sided abuse at them, while ignoring the abuse they suffer from vicious internet actors of both genders, these people unequivocally have a case for being mistreated by mainstream culture. As to whether their theory of aesthetics can actually be a positive influence on that culture, one can only guess. For now, let’s hope the question of race and sex has lost all its extra lives where #Gamergate is concerned.
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SADARPUR (PATIALA): A minor issue of a dalit boy dialling a cellphone number by mistake has snowballed into a major row and resulted in 50 dalit families of Sadarpur village facing a social boycott The boycott started from August 16 - a day after India celebrated its 65th Independence Day - but cops are yet to take any action against the landlords, who have announced that any person violating this dictate will have to pay a penalty of Rs 50,000. On August 14, a dalit boy of the village happened to dial the number of an upper caste youth from the landlord community, and both had a heated arguments over it. Initially, the matter was sorted out by some village elders. But on August 15, youths from the landlord community attacked a group of dalit boys returning home from Gajju Majra village after attending an Independence Day function at a government school, and left them seriously injured."We got the injured boys admitted in Samana civil hospital and informed Pasiana police station. Angered by this, the upper caste members called a meeting at the local gurdwara the next day and announced a boycott of all dalits," said Amar Singh, who along with others met DSP Samana on Saturday to seek justice. Landlords have banned the entry of dalits in their fields and refused to sell them milk. Since, most Dalits don't have farmland, they are totally dependent on village landlords for animal fodder, too. "We are bringing milk from Channo village, which is around 3-4 km away, " said Dhanwant Singh . Some landlords confirmed the social boycott, but refused to say anything on record.
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House Speaker Paul Ryan (Screen cap).
While taking questions from reporters on Thursday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) slammed the door on President Donald Trump’s theory that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower.
“The intelligence committees — in their continuing, ongoing, and widening investigation into all things Russia — got to the bottom, at least so far with respect to our intelligence community, that no such wiretap existed,” said Ryan.
Ryan was then asked by a reporter about Trump’s interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson in which the president insisted that the wiretap had occurred.
“I didn’t see his interview,” Ryan replied curtly.
Congressional Republicans have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump’s habit of making wild, unsupported assertions on Twitter that they frequently have to spend time investigating.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) on Wednesday threatened to subpoena the Trump administration to get any evidence it has to back up Trump’s wiretapping claim, which marked a sharp departure in tone from a congressman who is normally a staunch Trump ally.
Watch the video of Ryan below.
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With our contract came many rights, benefits, and improvements to postdoc life (Figure 1). For the first time we have a guaranteed minimum salary scale and guaranteed annual salary increases. Other benefits include equal and affordable access to health care benefits, career development rights, paid time off and sick leave, protections against discrimination, and a process for fairly resolving disputes—all major gains. And just as importantly, postdocs have an organization that is an unequivocal advocate for our interests in all areas. Postdocs come to UC to do research and pursue excellence—we deserve to be able to focus on our work, and not have to worry about adequate pay and benefits.
The economic gains for postdocs cannot be overstated. Before the union, postdocs had to negotiate individually for salary and benefits; consequently, salaries were uneven across departments and campuses and carried no guarantee of annual raises. Salaries stagnated at near-poverty levels—in one instance a UC postdoc made $18,000 per year for a full time appointment. By contrast, the union contract guarantees an experience-based minimum salary tied to a national standard (the NIH NRSA Fellowship scale). As a result, the average UC postdoc salary has increased by nearly 14% to about $47,800 (as of July 2014). Additionally, the 2014 minimum salary for a starting postdoc now exceeds the living wage for two adults in the cities near each UC campus; however, this is only true for a family of four at one campus (UC Merced). For international postdocs, higher salaries can be particularly important, as some types of guest worker visas do not allow spouses or partners to work.
Even with these advances, many postdocs and their families are still balancing present economic needs against an expectation of future academic success and a higher salary. This can easily lead some postdocs to expend personal funds, take on debt, or both, in order to make ends meet. Still, the newly won benefits, such as affordable health care that includes all dependents, are a significant achievement.
The importance of economic factors does not, however, preclude the many other benefits of unionization, such as standardizing aspects of the postdoc experience and allowing postdocs to focus on our research. For example, we now have a clear process for resolving disputes quickly and fairly, culminating in neutral third-party arbitration if necessary. Having the union as an advocate in the workplace provides incoming postdocs with a peer support system and access to the most up-to-date information on workplace rights and the means to exercise those rights. This element is again especially important for international postdocs, especially when they have to deal with something as complex as the US health care system for the first time.
By joining together collectively in a union, postdocs also gained a voice beyond the campus. For example, UAW 5810 has enabled postdocs to increase our visibility and involvement in politics that influence science and society: this is particularly important at a time when the political climate is at times regressive and ‘anti-science’. For example at the end of 2013, when the Sequester loomed and science funding in the US was threatened, we started an initiative to roll back these cuts and improve overall science funding. Thirty-nine congressional representatives from across the nation supported our initiative by signing onto a letter, circulated by Rep. George Miller and Rep. Jim McDermott, to the Congressional Leadership of both parties. Due to these and many other efforts, the deepest cuts in federal science funding have been averted, but we are continuing to push for research budget increases.
In addition, we have supported open access policies, comprehensive immigration reform, and an array of social justice causes. For instance, we co-sponsored a bill in the California State Legislature to prevent graduate student pregnancy discrimination (AB 2350), and another to extend collective bargaining rights to graduate student research assistants (AB 1834). We have also taken an interest in professional development by hosting events and panel discussions on the tenure track process, applying for fellowships, career options for Ph.Ds, open access, and immigration policies. Through this collective approach we have built a network of postdocs, former postdocs, and other members of the wider scientific community who support each other, whether it be by helping postdocs stand up for our rights in the workplace, by advocating for positive change in the political sphere, or by improving scholarly communication and the assessment of scientific achievement.
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Gang Rape is Not OK: Women respond to the De Anza Rape Case by danielsan
Saturday Jun 2nd, 2007 8:30 PM
Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr recently announced that her office would not be filing any charges in the De Anza gang-rape case, in which an underage, unconscious girl was assaulted by a group of De Anza College baseball players. At a press conference Thursday May 31st, women gathered outside the DA's office in San Jose to demand justice for the victim of this crime.
Organizations like NOW, Stop Family Violence, and the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes organized a protest and press conference Thursday in response to the apparently closed case in which a 17-year-old girl was gang raped at a party thrown by members of the De Anza College baseball team.
Listen now: Copy the code below to embed this audio into a web page: <audio preload="none" src="https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2007/06/02/deanzarape1kathredmond.mp3" controls="controls"></audio>
Katherine Redmond, founder and president of the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes, spoke to the local and the national outrage at the failure to investigate and prosecute this case. Redmond demands transparency in the investigation: since the DA's reasoning in refusing to bring charges is the lack of evidence, she wonders why the eyewitnesses to the crime (who were sober at the party) were not called to the grand jury to give their testimony. "Thanks to these brave women, we have eye witnesses to the ugly truth," she says. She decries the decisions behind made on behalf of the victim, or rather, in spite of the victim's wishes: "The victim wanted charges brought, and the DA told her no."
Redmond goes on to discuss the public response to this kind of case and the rape culture that refuses to deal with the truth about rape. "Rape is about the violent and degrading theft of a person's bodily integrity and personal autonomy." MP3 audio above.
Listen now: Copy the code below to embed this audio into a web page: <audio preload="none" src="https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2007/06/02/deanzarape2mandynow.mp3" controls="controls"></audio>
Mandy Benson, the President of California NOW (National Organization for Women), says that the message sent by the handling of this case is that "If you send your daughter to school in Santa Clara County, she might be raped--and if she's raped there will be no one to protect her." MP3 audio above.
Listen now: Copy the code below to embed this audio into a web page: <audio preload="none" src="https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2007/06/02/deanzarape3lettertoboys.mp3" controls="controls"></audio>
Carol Garvey read an amazing statement focused on the male witnesses/enablers/perhaps-perpetrators who have apparently not contributed to the body of evidence for the investigation. She pleads with the boys who were in the room to come forward, to break the code of silence, to break ranks and identify the rapists.
"They are hiding behind you, the witnesses, hoping that the jock code of silence holds and that they won't be found out for the cowards that they are, even while tarnishing your good name. I call you who witnesses the event 'boys' because that is what you are. Real men would come forward and name the perpetrators. If the perpetrators are allowed to go free, they will keep that sense of entitlement and be free to rape again. The girls and women you love will not be safe. Your unborn daughters will not be safe. I know that may sound funny to you, but when I was raped thirty-four years ago, the man was old enough to be my father. After he raped me and I was crying hysterically he tried to calm me by saying 'I never meant to hurt you--I thought you wanted it, and I have a daughter your age.' So I ask you boys to examine your heart, the kind of people you are, and the kind of people you want to be, and for your family, and for your college, which is also my alma matter, and for your community, and most of all for your selves: Do the right thing, and report the perpetrators. We'll all be better for it, and your good name will not be scarred forever for a crime you didn't commit."
She is the President of DAWN (Democratic Activists for Women Now), a local Democratic Party organization.
Listen now: Copy the code below to embed this audio into a web page: <audio preload="none" src="https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2007/06/02/deanzarape4irene.mp3" controls="controls"></audio>
Irene Weiser is the founder and Executive Director of New York-based Stop Family Violence, and she spoke with the unidentified victim of the rape on the morning of the press conference. She relayed the following message on her behalf:
1. She wants her day in court
2. She has lost confidence in the DA's office
3. She calls on the state Attorney General's office to intervene on her behalf and on behalf of other victims of rape who may be afraid to come forward.
4. Women and all victims of sexual assault must stand together to demand justice. MP3 audio above.
Listen now: Copy the code below to embed this audio into a web page: <audio preload="none" src="https://www.indybay.org/uploads/2007/06/02/deanzarape5kredmondinterv.mp3" controls="controls"></audio>
During the press conference, I noticed that the KCBS (740 AM) reporter showed up late, and allowed the door to slam behind him, interrupting the statement of Katherine Redmond with a loud bang (probably quite noticeable in the audio). After the conference wrapped up, I noticed the same reporter talking to Redmond, and got a bit closer just in time to hear him ask her if she "understood the reasoning" (!) of lacking sufficient evidence to secure a conviction. Astounded, I listened to her on-point response about the eye witnesses never called to testify. I also watched the KCBS reporter give a 'dude-nod' to a male acquaintance, and chew gum throughout her response to his question.
After this interaction, I spoke with Redmond about her organization and its work. She founded the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes after she was raped while at school at Nebraska, carrying the first Title IX lawsuit that dealt with rape on a college campus.
For Redmond, this whole case is simply astounding. "None of this makes sense," she says, "You don't get a more egregious open-and-shut case like this." She decries the "system of protection in place" to protect athletes, but goes on to say that the public is responding to cases like this better than in the past, saying that "the public (now) believes that athletes get away with things."
MP3 audio above.
Dolores Carr has said that community response and protest prompted her decision to submit the De Anza Gang Rape case to the state Attorney General's office for review. No timeline has been given for the review process, and several possibilities are left open: including that Jerry Brown's office will agree with Carr and leave the case closed with no charges.
Whether you seek justice through the "Justice System" or through some other community response, this is an important case. Whether the charges are for statuatory rape (the girl was underage, whether intoxicated or sober), or for rape (the girl was unable to consent, whether conscious or not), or for something like lewd acts on a minor or false imprisonment or something, the bottom line is that by all accounts a crime was committed against this girl--and she wants to see someone held responsible.
If charges are filed, and this goes to court, and someone goes to jail, then maybe something like justice is to be found. But if a community discussion about what is sex and what is rape, what is a party and what is a crime, what is jock-culture and what is rape-culture,... if people can talk about underage drinking, teen sex, the protection of boys by men, the perception of male athletes as young-men-with-potential-not-to-be-ruined by some drunk girl,...
If charges aren't filed, and nothing ever goes to court, and no one does any time, maybe the community can come up with something different in response to the question of justice. We have to do more than look to the cops.
The reality is that just as there are rape survivors walking, working, eating, living alongside and among us: our moms, our sisters, our daughters... so too are there rapists alongside and among us. Where and how do we seek justice for millions of survivors? The victim of these ballplayers asks for justice on behalf of all of these women. She asks that they stand together to demand it.
There's work to do, and it means a whole lot more than waiting around for the Attorney General.
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Repugnance as a Constraint on Markets
NBER Working Paper No. 12702
Issued in November 2006
NBER Program(s):Health Care, Law and Economics
This essay examines how repugnance sometimes constrains what transactions and markets we see. When my colleagues and I have helped design markets and allocation procedures, we have often found that distaste for certain kinds of transactions is a real constraint, every bit as real as the constraints imposed by technology or by the requirements of incentives and efficiency. I'll first consider a range of examples, from slavery and indentured servitude (which once were not as repugnant as they now are) to lending money for interest (which used to be widely repugnant and is now not), and from bans on eating horse meat in California to bans on dwarf tossing in France. An example of special interest will be the widespread laws against the buying and selling of organs for transplantation. The historical record suggests that while repugnance can change over time, change can be quite slow.
The NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health provides summaries of publications like this. You can sign up to receive the NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health by email.
Acknowledgments
Machine-readable bibliographic record - MARC, RIS, BibTeX
Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w12702
Published: Alvin E. Roth, 2007. "Repugnance as a Constraint on Markets," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 37-58, Summer. citation courtesy of
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Russia probe ‘single greatest witch hunt’ ever of a US pol, Trump says
President Donald Trump was back at it again on Twitter Thursday morning, reacting to the appointment of a special counsel to investigate his ties to Russia and continuing his narrative that the news media and others are treating him “unfairly.”
“With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama administration, there was never a special [counsel] appointed!” Trump tweeted. He misspelled counsel as “councel” in the tweet.
In another tweet shortly thereafter, Trump proclaimed “This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history!”
This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017
Later Thursday morning, the original misspelled tweet was replaced with a correctly spelled one.
With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign & Obama Administration, there was never a special counsel appointed! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 18, 2017
The tweets echo Trump’s statement Wednesday that “No politician in history, and I say this with great surety, has been treated worse or more unfairly” by the media.
The tweets also come as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will brief senators Thursday about President Trump’s decision to fire former FBI Director James Comey and likely address his decision to appoint ex-FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to the Russia investigation.
Rosenstein, along with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, recommended that Trump dismiss Comey, citing his controversial handling of the investigation into former secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
The unusual, all-senators briefing comes as Trump and his administration grapple with the fallout from explosive revelations earlier this week that Comey kept notes of a February meeting indicating Trump asked him to close the agency’s investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn, and that Trump shared sensitive intelligence information with the Russians.
Contributing: USA Today
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David Mirzoeff / PA Wire/PA Images
Councils across London stepped in on Sunday evening to form a 24-hour Grenfell Tower fire response service alongside the government, the British Red Cross, and emergency services and said the initial response was "simply not good enough on the ground". Eleanor Kelly, chief executive of Southwark council, and part of the newly established Grenfell Fire Response Team, said in a statement: "We want to make clear that whilst the emergency and local community response was nothing short of heroic, we know that the initial response was simply not good enough on the ground. People are angry, and rightfully so. "Our focus is now ensuring those affected are being cared for and looked after. "This new team is now leading the recovery and response to the Grenfell Tower fire, which has been one of the most tragic and horrendous events ever seen." London local government has a resilience response that can be invoked when a major London incident like the Grenfell fire happens. Yet the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea invoked this only on the afternoon of Friday 16 June – almost three days after the incident.
The response team, a coalition including the Metropolitan police and the London Fire Brigade, said it was currently responding to "what the community are telling us they need", adding that people who came to Westway Sports and Fitness Centre would be able to access services and support provided by a new team around the clock. It said housing was the main priority and that by the end of Monday 19 June it is aiming to have contacted all known families affected by the fire and completed an assessment of what they need. The response team said the latest information it has is that 201 households have so far received emergency accommodation to date, of which 113 are homeless – almost five days after the fire. The Red Cross, which provides humanitarian aid in crisis zones, has been drafted in to provide community assistance and will be part of the teams allocated to every household affected.
BuzzFeed News first revealed earlier that officials from a nearby London council had said they were assuming control over aspects of the Grenfell Tower response operation – as accusations of mismanagement of the crisis mounted against Kensington and Chelsea council.
Volunteers and humanitarian charity workers were told by officials from Ealing council late on Saturday night there would be a complete handover to the west London authority – the same day the prime minister admitted support on the ground for survivors of the disaster "was not good enough". Rupinder Hardy, a manager at Ealing council, had been called by Ealing emergency response team on Friday to assist with the Grenfell Tower crisis, and was at Westway Sports Centre visiting family and meeting with volunteers from 7am on Saturday morning until after midnight.
I've spoken to Rupinder Harding manager at Ealing council who says she wanted the refuge centre to "feel like a res… https://t.co/qT3Hd1MaPv
Speaking to BuzzFeed News, she said: "I am going to have a meeting now to see what happened during the night, and what we need to focus on going forward.
"Now we've got a lot of Ealing people coming, and we've got representatives from government offices. "I've suggested yesterday what I'd like to see, and I'd like to get this to feel like a rest centre, to feel welcoming, to feel inclusive, to give the opportunity to the community to be somewhere where they can talk to community groups and to be heard, and to have their outcomes met." Standing in the entrance of the Westway Sports Centre, which has turned into a storage place for canned food items, Philip Lee-Morris, local authority liaison officer response from Ealing council, told BuzzFeed News: "Yesterday we came to the rest centre to try and do as much as we can to turn this effort into a truly humanitarian relief effort for the entire community, to recognise that this tragic event has impacted so many people and we need to ensure there is somewhere that people can come to get help." When asked about the challenges Grenfell Tower residents and evacuated locals had faced, he said: "I think we need to make sure everyone is informed, we need to make sure that people know why we are here, and I think people need to feel as welcomed as possible." On Sunday morning the police cordons on the way to Westway, which families had to cross, had been removed. Volunteers had said the cordon had made the refuge centre unwelcoming, and look like "a crime scene". Lee-Morris added: "There is so much tension, so much frustration in the community that we're hoping this can be the one place that people can truly come together, exchange their feelings, relate to people concerned what they have been through and we're hoping to provide that resting, calm environment." When asked about the biggest concerns of residents he said: "I think it comes down mainly to communication so it's the local people and those affected by this – it's unspeakable – it's ensuring they know the local authority is here, and local authorities through the entire city have come together, volunteers in their dozens are prepared to come out and do whatever they can." The news of other councils and central government stepping in comes days after the fire left a community mourning, with at least 58 people presumed dead and scores of families left homeless.
Kensington and Chelsea council has been under pressure since the fire, with residents protesting outside Kensington Town Hall on Friday night. The BBC reported on Sunday that central government staff had been drafted in to manage the response to the fire.
Victoria Jones / PA Wire/PA Images
Kensington and Chelsea council leader Nicholas Paget-Brown was quoted as saying: "Kensington and Chelsea council is working closely with the government, charities, volunteer and resident groups and the emergency services to help rehouse and assist all those affected.
"Of course, people rightly have questions about the causes of the fire and why it spread so quickly and these will be answered." Families from Grenfell Tower and local residents have in the last few days complained about the lack of support from Kensington and Chelsea council. In an updated press statement on Saturday evening, the council said: "Kensington Town Hall has unfortunately been closed due to yesterday’s incident," referring to the protest by residents. A pressing concern for Grenfell Tower residents, as well as households in the surrounding area who had been evacuated, is the issue of housing. On Friday morning, Kensington and Chelsea council confirmed that 109 households had been given temporary accommodation in hotels. A statement said: "We plan to house residents of Grenfell Tower as locally as we can. But we may well need help from our close neighbours. We want to rehouse people in a good home as quickly as we can. "The council is committed to looking after the immediate and longer-term housing needs of all those affected by the fire."
Yui Mok / PA Wire/PA Images
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Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a bill Wednesday that would end the federal prohibition on marijuana, an issue that has boosted his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Sanders's bill calls for marijuana to be removed from the Drug Enforcement Administration's schedule of controlled substances. Marijuana is currently classified by the federal government as a Schedule I controlled substance, the same category as heroin and LSD.
According to pro-legalization groups, Sanders' bill is the first ending federal marijuana prohibition to be introduced in the Senate. Sanders is the only presidential candidate so far this cycle to call for marijuana to be removed from the DEA's controlled substances schedule.
Hillary Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has said she wants to see how legalization plays out in states like Colorado and Washington before pushing any changes at the federal level. Former Maryland Gov. and Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley said he supports putting marijuana on Schedule 2, a category that includes drugs like cocaine, opium and morphine.
Last week at a town hall at George Mason University in Virginia, Sanders told college students that "in my view, the time is long overdue for us to remove the federal prohibition on marijuana."
"In my view, states should have the right to regulate marijuana the same way that state and local laws now govern sales of alcohol and tobacco," Sanders said at the town hall, which was livestreamed to roughly 300 college campuses across the country.
Thus far, four states — Colorado, Washington Oregon and Alaska — have legalized recreational marijuana. On Tuesday, Ohio voters Ohio voters rejected a ballot proposal that would have legalized both recreational and medical marijuana — but would also have given one group of investors monopoly power over the state's pot business.
Sanders's bill would not instantly make marijuana legal across the country. That decision would be left to individual states.
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Despite issuing multiple warnings, Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events continues to tell viewers to “look away” from the show, especially with the show set to premiere this Friday.
This time, the ominous message comes in the form of the show’s opening credits (seen exclusively above), though what’s slightly unusual about it is that it’s none other than Count Olaf’s portrayer, Neil Patrick Harris, singing the warning. As fans familiar with the books (or even previous trailers) will know, the character — who is the Baudelaire orphans’ third cousin four times removed, or their fourth cousin three times removed — is the series’ main villain as he plots to steal their fortunes, letting nothing stand in his way.
More curious still is the “murder board” being constructed in the credits above. Could it be part of Olaf’s scheme to get Violet, Klaus, and Sunny’s money? Or is it part of narrator Lemony Snicket‘s efforts to document the Baudelaire’s increasingly grim lives? Luckily, viewers will only have to wait one more day to find out.
A Series of Unfortunate Events will be available for streaming on Friday, Jan. 13 on Netflix.
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DEERFIELD, Ill. -- Everyone at the Berto Center is noticing Carlos Boozer's weight loss.
Bulls general manager Gar Forman said during Sunday's media day that he thought Boozer had dropped at least "20 pounds." And coach Tom Thibodeau is just happy his power forward came into training camp looking ready to work this year.
Carlos Boozer, posing for a photo on media day, came to camp slimmer than last season. David Banks/US Presswire
"He's in much better shape right now," Thibodeau said. "And he took his injury early on last year, the first week of camp. And he had a very good offseason. He's jumping again. It's still early, we've got a long way to go, but so far, so good."
For his part, Boozer admits that he is feeling a little more mobile this year.
"I just feel good," he said. "I feel lighter, healthier. [My] body feels good and I'm ready to go."
Boozer says he is 100 percent healthy and feels he will be able to run the floor more if that is what Thibodeau decides he should do.
"Our first priority is to run up the court and get layups," Boozer said. "We got the fastest guy in the league with the ball. We got some pretty fast wings. Joakim [Noah] runs as good as any big man. Taj [Gibson] runs as good as any big man. We got a pretty fast team."
Boozer knows he also has a team full of guys that, like him, appear to be in very good shape for the shortened 66-game season.
"Our whole team was motivated this summer to get back and get ready," he said. "I think all the guys came in in great shape and made it easier for coach Thibs and the coaching staff to get right to what we do offensively and defensively. It makes it easier when everybody's in good shape."
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Bitcoin Maximalism Remains as Competitors Rise
There has been a recent discussion about Bitcoin Maximalism lately, most likely due to the sudden rise of Ethereum. This conversation is not new dialogue but typically arises when there is a competitor at Bitcoin’s heels. Many people have written about this subject such as Vitalik Buterin, Daniel Krawisz, and just recently Hivemind creator Paul Sztorc.
Also read: Coincheck: Japan ‘Treating BTC as Currency’
Bitcoin Maximalism: ‘One Chain to Rule Them All’?
When Bitcoin is struggling in fiat value or something crazy happens like a “spam attack,” many are ready to attack it. In the past, and even now, when an altcoin flourishes in value or development it is seen as a threat to the Bitcoin ecosystem. This trend is repeating yet again; as of press time, Ethereum is the second largest market capitalization — and is closing in on Bitcoin. Prior to the token gaining this massive wealth injection in 2014, Vitalik Buterin wrote about Bitcoin Maximalism:
“One of the latest ideas that has come to recently achieve some prominence in parts of the Bitcoin community is the line of thinking that has been described by both myself and others as “Bitcoin dominance maximalism” or just “Bitcoin maximalism” for short – essentially, the idea that an environment of multiple competing cryptocurrencies is undesirable,”
Proponents of this ideology believe that Bitcoin will reign King forever and always be the champion of cryptocurrencies. They say altcoins may exist, but they will be behind the forerunner at all times and leech off its security and network effect.
The digital currency’s network effect does have powerful attributes that are currently superior to the rest of the virtual tokens out there. This includes widespread adoption in many areas including merchants, industry operators and miners. Speculation grows larger as a result, and its value becomes continuously demanded. Bitcoin also has the edge when it comes to network hash power, security and strength.
It is said that the Bitcoin blockchain’s network security fuels those trusting its value. It solidifies the subjective valuation that most prefer it over any other protocol. No other altcoin has this first mover advantage and network effect. With its vast community of miners, supporters, and merchants, the currency becomes a liquid driver constantly progressing. Daniel Krawisz explains this phenomenon in his editorial featured at the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute called “The Coming Demise of the Altcoins (And What You Can Do to Hasten It).”
“A more liquid currency has an advantage over a less liquid one because it can support more trade. Furthermore, liquidity in a currency is self-reinforcing. The more that people buy a currency, the more liquid it becomes. This naturally tends to promote the success of a single currency over all the rest.”
Lately, within the madness of the block size debate and ventures such as R3 and Microsoft’s Azure program, arguments have been made against Bitcoin. The new “blockchain agenda” says the technology underneath the cryptocurrency is superior. Nonetheless, the digital currency remains stronger than cheap talk and vaporware. The digital currency has done fairly well in value this past year, and infrastructure is growing.
The block size debate has been long and tiresome at times but it also shows its truth decentralized strength. Governance is not made up of large shareholders or Masternodes, but is formed by the legions of users, miners and infrastructure providers, all of which outweigh nearly every altcoin in existence.
When you add the combination of merged mining into the equation, you anchor the Bitcoin blockchain even more. As Paul Sztorc explains in his latest blog post called “One Chain to Rule Them All,” merge mining these alternative tokens strengthens the digital currency further. The current hashing power within the Bitcoin network is exponentially larger, so some miners take a smaller hash rate from an altcoin to reap more bitcoin in the end. The King of cryptocurrency’s network runs at 1,277,073,879 GH/s as of press time, and this offers a security like no other. Sztorc believes there will be “one chain to rule them all,” and the Hivemind developer adds, “being ‘ruled by Bitcoin’ is awesome.” Paul Sztorc states in his post:
“Whether you choose to merge-mine a blockchain, or to anchor a file, you will want to use Bitcoin (aka “the blockchain”) as your base-layer blockchain, because…only Bitcoin’s hashrate stands a chance,— Bitcoin currently has the maximum available hashrate on the planet, making it immune to attack from the world’s supercomputers.”
Bitcoin Maximalism will always exist unless there are significant failures throughout the network and the community of users leave en masse. Those that believe Bitcoin is the king will prefer it no matter what altcoin comes into play. And there will be people who continue to support the altcoin ecosystem, believing there is a chance for an altcoin to take the throne. With Ethereum being the second largest capitalization and its value progressing fast, one may ask if Bitcoin Maximalists should worry. Bitcoiners often don’t worry, and when these alternative token events take place, they become more vocal in their support for the king.
Are you a Bitcoin Maximalist? Or do you disagree with their opinions? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Phneep.com, Wiki Commons and Crypto-graphics.com
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Congress is considering proposals to greatly expand a soon-to-expire $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers -- potentially applying it to all but the wealthiest homebuyers.
Supporters say doing so would further boost home sales, stabilize housing prices and generate jobs. Opponents say extending and expanding the credit would be a waste of money and only temporarily stave off further price declines.
The credit now can be claimed by anyone buying a home who has not owned one for three years and who closes the deal by Nov. 30.
Beyond extending that deadline, some lawmakers want to make the credit available to all homebuyers who meet income eligibility requirements. And some want to increase the amount of the credit from $8,000 to $15,000.
Currently the first-time home buyer credit is available in full to those buying their primary residence who make $75,000 or less ($150,000 for joint filers). A partial credit is available to those making between $75,000 and $95,000 ($150,000 to $170,000 for joint filers).
The case for expanding the credit
Through mid-September, 1.4 million tax returns had qualified for the credit, according to the IRS.
Some portion of those returns, which the IRS couldn't specify, represents buyers who took advantage of an earlier version of the tax credit, which was only worth $7,500 and has to be repaid over time.
By the end of November, the credit will have been used by 1.8 million homebuyers, at least 355,000 of whom would not have bought a house without the tax break, according to estimates by the National Association of Realtors.
Mark Zandi, chief economist of MoodysEconomy.com, favors extending the current credit until June 1, 2010, and making it available to all home buyers regardless of income or at least to everyone except those at the highest end of the income scale. He estimates the cost of doing so wouldn't exceed $30 billion over 10 years.
Zandi's reasoning: Foreclosures are expected to rise next year because of rising unemployment, and that will drag home prices down further. Extending and expanding the credit will help mute that decline. And by June, there's a chance the job market will have stabilized.
"The most fundamental argument for the credit is that nothing works in the economy if housing is falling -- it hurts household wealth and credit becomes tight," Zandi said. "[The credit] is a good insurance policy. It's vital to stem the housing price declines."
To kick start economic activity, Zandi believes lawmakers should set aside an amount of money for an extended credit and tell potential home buyers "first come first served."
The National Association of Home Builders would like the credit extended for all of 2010.
"We estimate that this would increase home purchases by 383,000 in the next year and help mitigate the foreclosure crisis by whittling down inventory," NAHB Chairman Joe Robson said in a statement. "This stimulus alone would create nearly 350,000 jobs over the coming year, which is exactly what the economy needs right now."
A study funded by the industry-supported Fix Housing First Coalition found that the current credit helped stimulate demand for homes at the lower end of the price spectrum.
"An expansion of the tax credit would spur an increase similar to what occurred in the lower end of the market, by motivating buyers in the 'trade-up market' to purchase a higher priced primary home," said Kenneth Rosen in testimony before Congress. Rosen runs the consulting group that conducted the study and is chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at the University of California in Berkeley.
The case for letting the credit expire
Opponents of extending and expanding the credit worry that such moves offer poor bang for the buck and won't stem housing declines.
"Everything spent on this program will ultimately have to be paid for later through higher, economically harmful taxes," Ted Gayer, co-director of economic studies at the Brookings Institution, wrote in a Brookings blog.
Assuming there are 5.5 million home sales in 2010, Gayer said, expanding the credit to all homeowners "is poorly targeted because it would give a credit to 5.5 million homebuyers who would have bought a home anyway."
The current credit was estimated to cost federal coffers $6.64 billion over 10 years. But Gayer notes that the cost is likely to be much higher since more people than expected took advantage of it but only about 15% of people wouldn't have bought a house otherwise.
It would cost an estimated $16.7 billion if the credit is extended until the end of June 2010 and made available to single filers making up to $150,000 and joint filers making up to $300,000. Those are the parameters that Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., are proposing in an amendment they introduced to a bill the Senate is expected to take up this week. (Please see correction.)
Another argument against an extension: It would only temporarily boost home prices and potentially set up those using it for a fall. That's because home prices are likely to decline once the credit expires and interest rates ultimately trek north, according to Dean Baker, codirector of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
"Temporarily propping up house prices, so that a new set of homebuyers can incur losses, is a policy of questionable merit," Baker said in a CEPR column.
The sooner the market adjusts the better, Baker said. He did offer one caveat: "We may want to step in to prevent prices from overshooting on the downside in a select group of markets where this is a real possibility."
Zandi said that's already happened in a number of markets, and that an extended credit might help turn around the deflationary psychology in those markets where buyers are worried about catching a falling knife.
- CNNMoney.com's Les Christie contributed to this report.
Correction:This article originally misstated Sen. Isakson's home state.
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It really is a shame when good things are left forgotten. I really apologise to this album. I really do. Because this The Icicle Works is an piece of early 80s alt that is really quite good.
The Icicle Works’ debut album was released in 1984 on Beggars Banquet records. It’s quite a good album that has little to no acclaim to it – not because it isn’t a good album but because it seems to have laid forgotten (much like my copy of this album has been). The band had the same sort of grand, sweeping psychedelic flare of Echo & the Bunnymen (possible due to the common Liverpool tie), with the sort of story-teller voice of Ian McNabb. This freshman album brings comparisons to Ocean Rain, which is a fair enough, but it is very much worth a listen in its own right.
The Icicle Works are one of those bands that seemed to have trickled through the cracks of music history. This is by no means a poor album either. It’s quite an enjoyable listen, even if it’s not always the most original sounding.
This is one of those instances where the change in track order makes a difference to how the album sounds. This is a U.S. release of the album, and that’s not only noticeable because of the alternate cover, but from the fact that the album opens here with the single “Whisper to a Scream (Birds Fly).” Truth be told, the UK original version probably edges out the US and Canadian versions. Track “Reaping the Rich Harvest” was removed and replaced with “Waterline,” which is fine but not really an improvement in any way.
For the life of me I cannot remember where this album came from. There is literally no memory of picking it up. Perhaps it is memory loss because this is one of the newest bits I own (blame it on going back to a full-time job). I remember really being into “Whisper to a Scream” because it really is one hell of a single, but this poor album never made it more than a few spins. In fact, this is one album that is still sitting in storage in America. In a way I do feel a bit guilty because it probably deserves a proper listen again.
For this post, I have listened to it on the laptop (which I guess is cheating since we’re talking about vinyl here). I’ve come to the conclusion that this is one of those albums where I think it excels outside of the singles. I was never totally blown away by “Love is a Wonderful Colour,” but there are definitely other songs here worth listening to like “Chop the Tree” (which is how the UK album opened).
What The Icicle Works proves is that there is always something to uncover in the vaults of 80s music.
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This young employee of the Alexandria Glass Factory worked day shifts one week and night shifts the next. (Library of Congress/Lewis Wickes Hine/Library of Congress)
The 2016 election is about class. “For the first time in a generation, the working class is front and center in an election cycle,” one MarketWatch writer proclaimed. Commentators fret that Hillary Clinton has “lost” the working class and that Donald Trump has risen to prominence on the backs of “white trash.” (Never mind that Trump voters are, on average, wealthier than Clinton’s constituency.) Bernie Sanders even calls himself the working class candidate. This demonstrates just how fuzzy this category is — though Sanders advocates for the working class, he has spent his career in politics, not manual or wage labor. There are lots of other misconceptions about class in America, too. Here, we debunk five.
Myth No. 1
The working class is white and male.
Trump is often credited with engaging the working class. He “won with the working class voters the GOP forgot,” blared one Breitbart column. Meanwhile, “Hillary is losing white working Joes,” proclaimed the Toronto Star. Even Sanders argued that Democrats had allowed Republicans “to capture the votes of the majority of working people in this country.”
Of course, that’s true only if you ignore Asians, Latinos and African Americans. “Factor them into the population of ‘working people,’ ” Slate’s Jamelle Bouie writes, “and Democrats win that group, handily.”
This gets at something important: America has never housed some monolithic entity called the “working class.” As early as 1791, Alexander Hamilton argued that those best suited for factory work were women and children, which became the norm in textile mills until child labor laws were passed in the 20th century. Chinese workers built the Transcontinental Railroad; immigrants labored in the Ohio steel industry; whites and blacks toiled side by side in 20th-century Louisiana sawmills.
Today’s working class is even more diverse. A recent study found that more than half of all Hispanics and African Americans identify as working class. Additionally, about 50 percent of women see themselves as working class. Another report predicted that people of color will make up the majority of the American working class by 2032.
Myth No. 2
Most Americans don’t notice class differences.
When surveyed, the vast majority of Americans say they are either middle class or working class. Indeed, political scientist Charles Murray found that Americans have traditionally refused to call themselves rich or poor. This, he wrote in his book “Coming Apart,” “reflected a national conceit that had prevailed from the beginning of the nation: America didn’t have classes, or, to the extent that it did, Americans should act as if we didn’t.” The desire to erase class divisions goes all the way back to Benjamin Franklin, who believed that the North American continent would flatten classes into a “happy mediocrity.”
In truth, though, the United States has always been a stratified country. In Franklin’s time, people were sorted into three classes: “better,” “middling” and “meaner.” The people at the bottom were seen as coarse, vulgar, unfinished — composed of baser materials. Thomas Jefferson described the upper echelon of the Virginia planter class as pure-blood aristocrats; those who married beneath their station produced children who were “half-breeds.”
In the 19th century, Alabama lawyer and author Daniel Hundley defined class in ancestral terms, laying out seven different options. At the top, he placed an inherited aristocracy, descendants of royal Cavalier blood. At the bottom was “white trash,” heirs of the wretched poor dumped in the American colonies.
Today, record inequality divides the rich and the poor. Our country’s wealthy “1 percent” takes home 20 percent of all pretax income, double their 1980 share. For most middle-class and lower-income families, income has either stagnated or fallen. In short, Americans have not escaped class hierarchies, but reinvented them generation by generation.
Myth No. 3
Class mobility is uniquely American.
Since America’s founding, its politicians have promised a society unbound by class. Jefferson once said that America had “no paupers.” Facing down Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, Vice President Richard Nixon claimed in 1959 that the United States was a “classless society.” Even President Obama described the idea that each generation should be wealthier than the one before as a “founding precept” of the American Dream.
Indeed, Americans are more optimistic about their chances of getting ahead than people in other places. But in reality, it’s harder to rise above your class in the United States than in just about any other developed country; economic mobility is much more possible in places like Japan, Germany and Australia. Socialist author Michael Harrington captured this devastating reality in his 1962 book “The Other America”: The poor were poor, he wrote, because “they made the mistake of being born to the wrong parents.”
Myth No. 4
With talent and hard work, you can rise above your class.
It’s a tale as old as Horatio Alger: Anyone can make it in America, no matter their upbringing. As CNN put the notion , “Through hard work and perseverance, even the poorest people can make it to middle class or above.”
But actually, it’s hard to rise above your income level. In cities such as Atlanta, New York and Washington, a child raised in a poor family has a less than 10 percent chance of becoming wealthy in his or her lifetime. It’s not much better in other parts of the country.
There are lots of reasons for this. Our education-funding system perpetuates inequality. Children in poor families more frequently attend poorer schools and receive fewer enrichment opportunities. As a result, they’re less likely to attend college and earn a degree. Data shows that children from families with incomes of at least $120,000 score much better on the SATs than their peers from households earning $20,000 or less.
Sociologists have also found that parents’ wealth is one of the best predictors of a child’s economic success. Rich families are more likely to own property and to pass wealth on to their offspring. In America, land ownership is one of the best ways to preserve wealth — and share it with the next generation. As the economist Joseph Stiglitz said in his book “The Great Divide”: “America is no longer the land of opportunity that it (and others) like to think it is. . . . To a large extent, the American Dream is a myth.”
Myth No. 5
Class oppression isn’t as significant as racial oppression.
This is a common trope. As Sanders said at a debate this spring: “When you’re white, you don’t know what it’s like to be living in a ghetto. You don’t know what it’s like to be poor.” Other commentators have said that black middle-class families are worse off than poor white ones.
They’re dead wrong. Americans have a long history of making life harder for the poor, no matter their race. Jim Crow’s infamous poll tax divested poor whites as well as poor blacks of the right to vote. During the New Deal, Southern politicians (except Huey Long) refused to extend Social Security to farm laborers, discriminating against blacks and whites alike. Even our current tax policies penalize the poor. In 2009, the top 1 percent of earners paid 5.2 percent of their income in state and local taxes, while the poorest 20 percent paid 10.9 percent.
Class power takes many forms. Its enduring force, its ability to project hatred toward the lower classes, was best summed up by two presidents 175 years apart. In 1790, then-Vice President John Adams argued that Americans not only scrambled to get ahead; they needed someone to disparage. “There must be one, indeed, who is the last and lowest of the human species,” he wrote. Lyndon Johnson came to the same conclusion in explaining the racism of poor whites: “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
outlook@washpost.com
Five myths is a weekly feature challenging everything you think you know. You can check out previous myths, read more from Outlook or follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.
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The country's most powerful fossil fuel lobbies have asked a federal judge for permission to withdraw from a groundbreaking climate change lawsuit, a stark about-face after the groups voluntarily intervened in the case two years ago and fought assiduously to have it dismissed.
The federal lawsuit, Juliana et al v. United States, was brought in August 2015 on behalf of 21 youths, now aged 9 to 21, over the federal government's alleged failure to rein in fossil fuel development and address climate change. The American Petroleum Institute (API), the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) and the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) joined the federal government's side as intervenors, saying the case was a "direct threat" to their businesses.
It is unusual for intervenors to seek to withdraw from a case. API and AFPM filed withdrawal motions in federal district court in Eugene, Oregon, on Thursday, and NAM filed a similar motion on Monday. It is unclear when federal magistrate judge Thomas Coffin will rule on their requests.
The intervenors and the Justice Department have repeatedly filed motions to have the case dismissed. But federal judges have ruled against them, and the case could go to trial as early as November. In the interim, lawyers for both sides could seek documents from one another and question people under oath through what is known as the discovery process.
Julia Olson, one of the lead counsels for the plaintiffs and executive director of the environmental group Our Children's Trust, said the industry lobbyists are seeking to withdraw in order to avoid handing over potentially damaging information.
Two separate investigative series in 2015, first by InsideClimate News and then the Columbia University School of Journalism/Los Angeles Times, revealed that the oil industry conducted cutting-edge research on climate change as far back as the 1970s before launching a multibillion-dollar campaign in the 1990s to cast doubt on climate science and delay action to cut fossil fuel emissions.
"After these youths sued the government, the trade associations pleaded their members' interests would be destroyed if they weren't allowed to be in the case, but now they are running for the hills," Olson said in a statement. "Now, they've decided they're better off being on the sidelines than subjecting themselves to discovery."
The plaintiff lawyers have said they will try to depose key federal officials, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Tillerson was chairman and chief executive of ExxonMobil from 2006 to January 2017 and also served as president of API.
Frank Volpe, an attorney for all three groups, did not answer a request for comment. API also declined to respond.
In their motions, the defendants' lawyers said withdrawing would streamline the discovery process. "Withdrawal of an intervenor will reduce the number of parties to this proceeding and, accordingly, reduce the amount of discovery, reduce discovery-related motions practice, and avoid the possibility of duplicative discovery efforts and duplicative proceedings," the defendants wrote in the API and AFPM motions.
The intervenors joined in part because of their concerns that the Justice Department under President Obama might not mount a sufficiently vigorous defense. NAM Senior Vice President and General Counsel Linda Kelly indicated that her group seeks to leave the suit in part because its interests align more closely with the Trump administration.
"As the dynamics have changed over the last several months, we no longer feel that our participation in this case is needed to safeguard industry and our workers," Kelly said in an emailed statement. "We fully support the efforts of the remaining defendants to push back against the plaintiffs' ill-conceived legal theory of regulation by court decree, and we are confident they will ultimately prevail."
The lawsuit is based on a legal concept called the public trust doctrine, which argues that the government holds resources such as land, water or fisheries in trust for its citizens. Climate litigators contend that the government is a trustee of the atmosphere, too. The doctrine's power flows from the Fifth, Ninth and Tenth Amendments, and the Vesting, Posterity and Nobility Clauses of the Constitution, the plaintiffs maintain.
In 2015, environmental plaintiffs in the Netherlands, South Africa and Pakistan, as well as Massachusetts and Washington state, won similar human rights or constitutional cases that force authorities to more aggressively cut carbon emissions.
The plaintiffs in Juliana argue that the federal government has known for at least 50 years that combustion of fossil fuels adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere and damages the climate. Because it chose to take actions to promote and subsidize fossil fuel use and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions, the government violated their right to protection from environmental degradation under the trust doctrine, the suit alleges.
"The overarching public trust resource is our country's life-sustaining climate system, which encompasses our atmosphere," the Juliana pleading says. "As sovereign trustees, Defendants have a duty to refrain from 'substantial impairment' of these essential natural resources."
Until their requests to withdraw, the intervenors and the federal government had countered that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue and that the constitutional arguments they used lacked merit.
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(CNN) President Donald Trump loves to talk. To tweet. To be quoted. To sound off. To make news.
To date, the only public utterance from the White House on the Comey memo story is a statement late Tuesday night attributed to an anonymous White House official. "While the President has repeatedly expressed his view that General (Michael) Flynn is a decent man who served and protected our country, the President has never asked Mr. Comey or anyone else to end any investigation, including any investigation involving General Flynn," said the official. "The President has the utmost respect for our law enforcement agencies, and all investigations. This is not a truthful or accurate portrayal of the conversation between the President and Mr. Comey."
There was some expectation that Trump might speak with reporters -- or White House press secretary Sean Spicer might hold an off-camera briefing -- during this morning's trip to Connecticut for the president's commencement speech at the Coast Guard Academy. Neither did. (Reports suggested that Spicer would hold an off-camera briefing on the flight back.)
Trump did say during his address to the graduates that he's been treated poorly by the media, but he did not come close to directly answering the reports about Comey's memo.
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A:
You’re partly right; God doesn’t want us to sin because when we do, we’re rebelling and turning our backs on Him. God also knows the hurt and the damage we cause ourselves when we sin, and He doesn’t want this to happen because He loves us.
When you gave your life to Christ, God Himself came to live within you by His Holy Spirit. However, your old sinful nature still lives within you, and because of this, you’ll struggle with sin the rest of your life. Only when we’re in heaven will our battle with sin be over. Even the Apostle Paul — the greatest Christian who ever lived — found that sin still tried to control him. He wrote, “For I do not do the good I want to do…. it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:19-20).
But listen: One reason God came to live within you is to help you overcome sin! You’re not in this battle alone! First, He’ll give you a new desire to do what’s right. In addition, He’ll show you ways to avoid temptation as you draw closer to Him.
When temptations come, turn immediately to Jesus. Answer temptation with prayer and with the promises of God’s Word, the Bible. Remember, the closer you are to Christ, the farther you are from Satan and his temptations. The Bible says, “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful…. when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).
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Remember James Ashby?
We were reminded of him this week, when he told the Federal Court he would no longer be proceeding with his sexual harassment suit against Peter Slipper.
The fresh-faced young political staffer was once the centre of a major media storm, after leveling sexual harassment allegations at the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Peter Slipper.
At the time, it was the biggest show in town. Slipper, a strange and complex man, had been elevated to the office by the Labor government of Julia Gillard. Lacking a majority in the House of Representatives and desperate to hang on to power, Labor engineered a deal to get Slipper to turn the tables on his Coalition colleagues.
Slipper, who’d been dis-endorsed by the Coalition in his own seat, turned out to be amenable to the deal. The end result gave Labor an extra vote on the floor of the House, and earned Slipper the undying enmity of the Queensland Liberal-National Party. The Daily Telegraph notoriously drew him as a giant rat on the front page.
In Slipper’s office worked a young man named James Ashby. Ashby, outwardly the model of a loyal staffer, was in truth a troubled soul who’d come to politics after stints in FM radio and the backwaters of the Queensland LNP. Working for a backbencher whose career had manifestly stalled, in most circumstances Ashby would have excited little more than passing gossip in the ordinary run of Canberra politics.
But if Slipper’s career was going backwards, there was another, more powerful figure in Queensland whose ambition remained undimmed. Mal Brough had been a cabinet minister in the Howard government before losing his seat in the 2007 election.
His unhappy legacy includes the Northern Territory Intervention and all that has since ensued.
It seems as though Brough didn’t like the irrelevance that loomed, post-politics.
After an unhappy stint fighting factional wars in the lead-up to the Liberal-National merger, he decided he wanted back in.
With the assistance of LNP heavyweight Mark McArdle, Brough engineered a deal that easily secured him pre-selection victory for the Sunshine Coast seat of Fisher. The seat of Fisher was held by long-time LNP backbencher, Peter Slipper.
We’ll never know precisely when James Ashby and another of Peter Slipper’s staffers, Karen Doane, stopped working for Slipper, and started working for Brough. But double agents they were.
The incontrovertible trail of meetings, emails and phone calls establishes quite clearly that by early 2012, Ashby, Doane and Brough were working together to undermine Slipper as the Speaker.
The eventual shape of the plot proved all too simple: an old-fashioned sex scandal.
Ashby went to the Federal Court alleging that he had been sexually harassed by Slipper. To the prurient stain of sexual harassment was thus added a zesty twist of gay innuendo, which the Murdoch newspapers were only too happy to pick up on.
Indeed, the Murdoch newspapers were in on the sting from the start. The other key player in this sordid little tale was none other than Steve Lewis, high profile political correspondent for the Sydney Daily Telegraph, which, as we’ve seen, had already formed a firm view of the character of the new Speaker.
The political blowback was immediate and, as it turned out, devastating.
In the febrile atmosphere of the later Gillard government, the scent of scandal surrounding Slipper proved impossible to rise above.
Slipper was also being pursued by the Coalition over allegations of rorting cab vouchers, and would eventually face criminal charges; in the interim, he was soon in a politically untenable situation.
Unable to recover from the stain on his reputation, Slipper was forced to resign.
In the meantime, the parliamentary manoeuvres to remove Slipper gave Julia Gillard an unexpected opportunity to create her lasting political legacy: an incendiary speech about misogyny that quickly made her famous around the world.
In one of the more hypocritical moments of Tony Abbott’s career, he attempted to justify the removal of Slipper as Speaker by reference to supposedly sexist comments Slipper had made in various emails that had come to light as a result of the Ashby law suit.
When Gillard and Labor defended Slipper, Abbott and the Coalition accused her of hypocrisy.
This was the source of Gillard’s rage about being “lectured on sexism and misogyny by this man.”
One of the worst moments in Australian parliamentary democracy thus unexpectedly produced one of the best. It was a perfect encapsulation of the Gillard years, in which high principle emerged occasionally in an all-pervading atmosphere of base hypocrisy and low treachery.
Such was the explosion created by Gillard’s misogyny speech, most people entirely forgot about Peter Slipper, and have little cause to remember him since.
He is nowadays pursued mainly by his committed enemies in the Queensland LNP; the former speaker is said to be suffering mental health issues, which cannot have been alleviated by the various court cases still continuing. For instance, an action by Karen Doane is still going ahead.
So there will be few in the media now prepared to say that Slipper has been vindicated in the James Ashby allegations, even though that is what the end of Ashby’s suit now means.
There will be many in the government quite relieved. After the devastating initial judgment by Steven Rares – the one that found that Ahsby had acted “in combination” with Brough to bring Slipper down – was appealed, many had hoped that a proper hearing would bring key players to the witness stand, including Ashby, Doane and, of course, Brough.
Now that won’t happen.
In his media statement, [insert link: http://sc.independentaustralia.net/PeterSlipperStatement.pdf ], Ashby spoke of his concern for Slipper’s mental health and his inability to pursue the case against a well-funded defence (Slipper’s costs are being covered by the federal government).
In reality, of course, the case was dropped because Ashby had every chance of losing. Proving that Slipper’s advances really happened, and that they were non-consensual, was always going to be difficult.
Explaining away the damning evidence of a conspiracy to tear down a political opponent – well, that would have proved impossible, not to mention embarrassing for all concerned.
After all, as David Marr pointed out this week, what was the point of fighting on?
“Ashby’s allegations had ruined Slipper at a stroke. A great torpedo had been shot into the listing hulk of the Labor government. Brough had beaten off his party rivals to secure the seat of Fisher.”
And, indeed, the real winner of ‘Ashbygate’ is only too easy to identify.
Mal Brough won the seat of Fisher in 2013, and can be expected to hold the reasonably safe seat for many years to come.
Today, he is a backbencher in Tony Abbott’s government, a powerful factional operator with every chance of returning to the ministry one day.
By contrast, the names ‘Slipper’ and ‘Ashby’ will soon disappear into comparative obscurity.
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Finishing up with year two and I figured I should at least have one dorm-based prank comic. This one was inspired by my former floor-mate Kevin. Insanely wealthy kid from Hong Kong who was majoring in computer science. Rarely went to class, and would always wait till the last second to do any assignment. But when he did, he would always ace the damn thing. It was maddening. The rest of his college experience was spent in his room watching anime. All anime, I’m convinced. Some of which had to be plumbed from the depths of the shadiest torrent sites. The ones only whispered about in shadows. He would also copy and burn everything to DVDs, in case he ever felt the need to rewatch. So much to the extent that when he graduated, he fled the country with a briefcase containing hundreds of pirated CDs handcuffed to his wrist. Nice guy. I haven’t heard from him since.
…
I’m pretty sure he was a spy.
Oh, and he built the device featured above.
That’s all.
-E.
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Although Christmas was celebrated in song in the Middle Ages, most carols in use now are less than 200 years old. Only a handful, such as I Saw Three Ships or the decidedly pagan-sounding The Holly and the Ivy, remind us of more ancient yuletides. Carols fell from favour in England after the Reformation because of their frivolity and were rarely sung in churches until the 1880s when EW Benson, Bishop of Truro (later Archbishop of Canterbury) drew up the format for the Nine Lessons and Carols service, which has remained in use ever since.
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Silent Night (1818)
Words: Josef Mohr
Music: Franz Xaver Gruber
Arguably the world’s most popular Christmas carol comes in several different translations from the German original. It started out as a poem by the Austrian Catholic priest Father Josef Mohr in 1816. Two years later, Mohr was curate at the parish church of St Nicola in Oberndorf when he asked the organist and local schoolteacher Franz Xaver Gruber to put music to his words.
An unreliable legend has it that the church organ had been damaged by mice, but whatever the reason, Gruber wrote it to be performed by two voices and guitar. It was first performed at midnight mass on Christmas Eve 1818, with Mohr and Gruber themselves taking the solo voice roles.
Its fame eventually spread (allegedly it has been translated into over 300 languages and dialects) and it famously played a key role in the unofficial truce in the trenches in 1914 because it was one of the only carols that both British and German soldiers knew.
Good King Wenceslas (1853 or earlier)
Words: John Mason Neale
Music: Traditional, Scandinavian
The Reverend Doctor Neale was a high Anglican whose career was blighted by suspicion that he was a crypto-Catholic, so as warden of Sackville College – an almshouse in East Grinstead – he had plenty of time for study and composition. Most authorities deride his words as “horrible”, “doggerel” or “meaningless”, but it has withstood the test of time. The tune came from a Scandinavian song that Neale found in a rare medieval book that had been sent to him by a friend who was British ambassador in Stockholm.
There really was a Wenceslas – Vaclav in Czech – although he was Duke of Bohemia, rather than a king. Wenceslas (907–935) was a pious Christian who was murdered by his pagan brother Boleslav; after his death a huge number of myths and stories gathered around him. Neale borrowed one legend to deliver a classically Victorian message about the importance of being both merry and charitable at Christmas. Neale also wrote two other Christmas favourites: O Come, O Come Emmanuel (1851) and Good Christian Men, Rejoice (1853).
Once in Royal David’s City (1849)
Words: Cecil Frances Humphreys Alexander
Music: HJ Gauntlett
Cecil Frances Humphreys was born in Dublin to a comfortable Anglican family. In 1848 she published Hymns for Little Children, a book of verse explaining the creed in simple and cheerful terms and which gave us three famous hymns. So to the question who made the world, the answer was All Things Bright and Beautiful. Children’s questions on the matter of death were answered with There is a Green Hill Far Away, while Once in Royal David’s City told them about where Jesus was born. The book was an instant hit and remained hugely popular throughout the 19th century.
The organist and composer Henry Gauntlett put music to it a year later and nowadays it traditionally opens the King’s College Cambridge Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.
Cecil threw herself into working for the sick and poor, turning down many requests to write more verse. Much of the proceeds from Hymns for Little Children went to building the Derry and Raphoe Diocesan Institution for the Deaf and Dumb.
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (1739 or earlier)
Words: Charles Wesley
Music: Felix Mendelssohn
Charles, the brother of Methodist founder John Wesley, penned as many as 9,000 hymns and poems, of which this is one of his best-known. It was said to be inspired by the sounds of the bells as he walked to church one Christmas morning and has been through several changes. It was originally entitled Hark How All the Welkin Rings – welkin being an old word meaning sky or heaven.
As with most of his hymns, Wesley did not stipulate which tune it should be sung to, except to say that it should be “solemn”. The modern version came about when organist William Hayman Cummings adopted it to a tune by German composer Felix Mendelssohn in the 1850s. Mendelssohn had stipulated that the music, which he had written to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the invention of the printing press and which he described as “soldier-like and buxom”, should never be used for religious purposes.
God rest you merry, Gentlemen
Origin unknown
This is thought to have originated in London in the 16th or 17th centuries before running to several different versions with different tunes all over England. The most familiar melody dates back to at least the 1650s when it appeared in a book of dancing tunes. It was certainly one of the Victorians’ favourites.
If you want to impress people with your knowledge (or pedantry), then point out to them that the comma is placed after the “merry” in the first line because the song is enjoining the gentlemen (possibly meaning the shepherds abiding in the fields) to be merry because of Christ’s birthday. It’s not telling “merry gentlemen” to rest!
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This article was first published in the December 2007 issue of BBC History Magazine
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Arsene Wenger says that Francis Coquelin’s rise to first team prominence was something of a surprise to him, and that he expected a decision about his future to be one about letting him go rather than offering him a new deal.
Indeed, he’s revealed the midfielder wasn’t best pleased when he was recalled from loan at Charlton as he felt he was going to just provide cover for the bench rather than playing, but after impressing massively since his return to the club he’s been given a new contract and given Wenger pause for thought in the transfer market.
“He wasn’t happy when I called him back,” said the Arsenal manager. “He played at Charlton and he thought I just called him back for cover. He expected in fact to play against QPR and was not playing and was surprised when I played him against West Ham.
“I told him, at the start of the season, to give absolutely everything from the start of the season until Christmas.
“Then we will see together and see where you are. If you respect that you have done a big part of your job.
“Did I think the chat in mid-season would be about him leaving? Yes. In myself, if he doesn’t play at Christmas at all, and there’s only six months contract to go, I let him go somewhere else.”
Football has that ability to surprise, and Wenger believes Coquelin has taken his chance through determination and simplifying his game.
“He knows it’s an opportunity for him. He has gone through a lot of doubt questioning himself, being certainly at many times being discouraged that he doesn’t get a chance.
“Now that he has a chance he doesn’t want to let it slip away. But he is a winner and he wants to win – that’s why he is so committed.”
And on his game and effectiveness since his ‘promotion’, the Arsenal manager said, “I think Coquelin analysed well what he is good at: defending in midfield.
“He was in between a bit the play-making position and a box-to-box player. He is not that – he’s a sitting player who can win the ball. He restricted his game to that and you make success in life with what you’re good at.
“The only thing I do is that I never say never to anybody. In my job you have to be open-minded like that. You have to make decisions at times. But never close the door completely for anybody.”
It’s an amazing turnaround, by any standards, and one which has left the manager trying to decide if he’ll buy a holding midfield player this summer.
But that’s a worry for then, in the meantime let’s hope he can continue his good form until the end of the season and, perhaps, help cap a remarkable story with some silverware.
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Silent Hill, a series famous for its mysterious atmosphere and frightening imagery, is a major property for Konami. The success of the Silent Hill games has inspired comics, novels, and a handful of movies. However, when the original was in development, almost no one outside of Team Silent (the group of developers who designed Silent Hill 1-4 at Konami) had any confidence in its success. As the story goes, Team Silent was composed of artists and programmers who had failed at other projects, and Silent Hill was their last chance for redemption. Konami wanted a game that would appeal to Western audiences and, one would assume, fans of Resident Evil, the hit PlayStation survival horror game that was released the same year that Silent Hill went into development.
One of the younger devs on the team, Takayoshi Sato, didn't start out as a leader on Team Silent, but he became one through sheer perseverance and skill. After a few months of rocky development, he ironed out the game's inconsistent plot, created all of the character models and a majority of the environmental assets, and single-handedly crafted every CG cutscene during late nights, when he could harvest the rendering power from PCs of coworkers who had gone home for the day. His dedication is evident in the final product, which delivered a storyline that kept players guessing, and a town that was riddled with horrors and, of course, copious amounts of fog.
Silent Hill was a hit, and Sato went on to lead development on many aspects of Silent Hill 2, considered by many to be the high point for the series. Sato's influence may not have been broadcast back in '96, but seemingly everything that players love about the original Silent Hill can be traced back to him. Sato is no longer working for Konami, and it's rumored that Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima is considering working on future games in the series, but it will always be Sato's baby.
What do GameSpot editors remember about Sato's seminal work, which had its 15th anniversary earlier this year?
Kevin Van Ord
I grew up in a rural Pennsylvania town with a sizable mental hospital and periodic bouts of fog. I've often said it's the kind of place that's good to grow up in but difficult to return to, and Silent Hill has always represented the nightmares I had as a small-town kid finding my way in a place where I never felt I belonged.
I knew there must be awful things lurking behind the local motel's doors. I'm sure I heard the telltale signs of vague evildoings when the sun went down. Adults warned me not to cross the state hospital's grounds, lest the patients there do something unspeakable. When my mother's religious friends warned me of the satanic rituals that the rock-and-roll-listening locals were performing, my imagination concocted ideas of pentagrams covered with blood splatters and the entrails of sacrificial lambs. Years later, Silent Hill brought to my screen these horrors with its uncanny way of turning mundane locations--diners, playgrounds, churches--into dens of demonic scheming.
Silent Hill also marked the first time I was so aware of audio design. The game famously dealt with the PlayStation hardware's limitations by filling the town of Silent Hill with darkness and fog, and alerted you to the presence of enemies with the sounds of static emanating from your radio. Protagonist Harry Mason wasn't a combat veteran; he was just a regular guy caught in irregular circumstances. Harry's vulnerability meant that every combat encounter represented actual peril, so that disturbing static would cause me to panic. I couldn't see the danger, but I knew it was close, and so I ran, hoping to reach safety and not come face-to-face with more rabid dogs.
Silent Hill and its subsequent installments--Silent Hill 3 in particular--stayed with me because they capitalized on the fears that adults had instilled within me. Even now when I return to my hometown, I stay in at night. I have no idea what wickedness might be occurring in the shadowed alleyways and abandoned elementary schools.
Maxwell McGee
For all the terror, drama, and excitement of the Silent Hill franchise, one of my most vivid memories comes not from the game itself, but from a disastrous late-night gaming session with friends. We had been taking turns playing the original Silent Hill for a few hours with all the lights off and the door closed. The game was still new back then, and everything scared us. Every time we opened a new door it would trigger a small panic attack as we anticipated being ambushed on the other side.
Every time we opened a new door it would trigger a small panic attack as we anticipated being ambushed on the other side.
During this particular session, we were pretty far in the game and feeling stressed. We didn’t know it at the time, but the floatstinger boss--basically a giant moth creature--was coming up next. I excused myself to use the restroom, but I could hear my friends freaking out as they played. When I returned, they were looking very guilty. Come to find out, they had exhausted all our health kits and handgun bullets while fighting "some crazy monkey enemy that was jumping all over the screen."
Worse yet, they had just saved over our only save file. Normally this would be a minor setback, but this particular save point before the floatstinger prevents any backtracking. You have to go straight to the boss. And we tried for hours to beat that boss, but with no health items and only melee weapons, it was impossible. We would die in one hit, and since the floatstinger can fly, it's not meant to be fought with a freaking lead pipe or a small axe. In the end, the game beat us, and we had to start over. I guess the lesson here is to always try to keep a cool head, and an extra save file.
Zorine Te
Silent Love--Maxwell McGee (2014)
Fear is a four-letter word. But so is love, and it is embarrassing to confess that I was first driven to the Silent Hill games because of a high school crush. You see, young me had overheard the person in question talk about a scary game by the name of Silent Hill. According to him, the game had been so frightening that he never made it past the 10-minute mark. Eager to prove something, I threw myself into Silent Hill at the first opportunity, and proceeded to fumble with sweaty palms through one of my first survival horror experiences.
Not only were monsters difficult to kill, but the game was littered with puzzles of varying difficulty that stumped my younger self. I loved the Silent Hill games for their ability to challenge multiple facets of myself. Still, I repeatedly told myself that I was not afraid, and in a strange depiction of the saying "fake it until you make it," the lie became the truth. Today, hosting GameSpot's regular live show House of Horrors, I am still in the habit of berating myself to hold steadfast in the face of the most horrifying games.
As for the high school crush, I would later brag to him about journeying through the Silent Hill games without fear.
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Dear Minnesotans,
It's time to speak out for your right to repair
Minnesota has a chance to become the first state in the nation to pass “Fair Repair” legislation. The Fair Repair bill guarantees our right to repair digital equipment like computers, refrigerators, cell phones and tractors. It requires manufacturers to provide owners and independent repair shops with access to repair information and replacement parts—so you have the resources you need to fix things quickly and affordably.
But we need your help. Manufacturers don’t want a Fair Repair bill. When your tractor breaks or your cell phone stops working, they want to be the only people who can fix it. And they get to set whatever prices they want.
Find out who represents you in Minnesota’s state legislature. Tell them that you want the right to repair your products. Tell them you support the Fair Repair bills. Tell them repair is good for the environment, good for consumers, and good for businesses.
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Already, some gay rights groups remain upset over Mr. Obama’s choice of the Rev. Rick Warren , an opponent of same-sex marriage , to give the invocation at his inauguration . Liberal groups also believe that Mr. Obama has not moved fast enough to reverse the policies of his predecessor on issues like detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects.
In a letter on Feb. 20 to the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, an arm of the federal judiciary, Lorraine E. Dettman, assistant director of the personnel office, said, “Plans in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program may not provide coverage for domestic partners, or legally married partners of the same sex, even though recognized by state law.”
Benefits are available to the spouse of a federal employee, Ms. Dettman said, but the 1996 law stipulates that “the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.”
Federal officials said they had to follow the laws on the books. But Richard Socarides, a New York lawyer who was an adviser to President Bill Clinton on gay issues, said he believed that Mr. Obama “has broad discretionary authority to find ways to ameliorate some of the more blatant examples of discrimination.”
The orders were issued by the chief judge of the appeals court, Alex Kozinski, and another member of the court, Judge Stephen Reinhardt.
Judge Kozinski, often described as a libertarian or an independent conservative, and Judge Reinhardt, a liberal, ruled not as part of a lawsuit, but in their role as employers resolving employee grievances.
Similar issues were raised in a lawsuit filed against the federal government last week in Boston by eight same-sex couples. The administration is weighing how to respond.
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Gay federal employees said they were denied equal compensation when their partners were denied health benefits.
Administration officials declined to say what they planned to do in the California cases if the judges tried to enforce their orders.
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Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman, said: “While the president opposes gay marriage, he supports legislative repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. He believes this country must realize its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”
Mr. Obama and his choice for director of the personnel office, M. John Berry, have endorsed the idea of providing health benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.
The Office of Personnel Management estimates the cost at $670 million over 10 years.
Mr. Berry, who is gay, has been director of the National Zoological Park since 2005. As an Interior Department official in the Clinton administration, he developed procedures to deal with complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation. They became a model for other agencies.
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The pending cases involve Karen Golinski, 46, a lawyer who works for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and Brad D. Levenson, 49, a lawyer who works for the federal public defender in Los Angeles .
Ms. Golinski’s insurance plan, offered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield, rejected her effort to obtain health benefits for her spouse, Amy Cunninghis. Mr. Levenson’s insurer, a Kaiser Foundation health plan, turned down his application for his spouse, Tony Sears, based on instructions from the Office of Personnel Management.
In Ms. Golinski’s case, Judge Kozinski said that federal law authorized the Office of Personnel Management to arrange health benefits for federal employees and their family members. The law, he said, defines the “minimum requirements” for health insurance, but the government can provide more.
Judge Reinhardt confronted the question differently, and concluded that the Defense of Marriage Act, as applied to Mr. Levenson’s request, was unconstitutional because it violated the Fifth Amendment guarantee of “due process of law.”
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“A bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot provide a rational basis for governmental discrimination,” Judge Reinhardt wrote.
In adopting the Defense of Marriage Act, Congress said the government had a legitimate interest in “defending and nurturing the institution of traditional heterosexual marriage.”
But Judge Reinhardt said the denial of benefits to same-sex spouses would not encourage gay men and lesbians to marry members of the opposite sex or discourage same-sex marriages.
“So the denial cannot be said to nurture or defend the institution of heterosexual marriage,” the judge wrote.
Gary L. Bauer , president of American Values, a conservative advocacy group, said that if Mr. Obama extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers, he would “provoke a furious grass-roots reaction, reinvigorate the conservative coalition and undermine his efforts to portray himself as a moderate on social issues.”
Ms. Golinski has asked for a new hearing, where she will urge Judge Kozinski to enforce his order granting benefits to her partner. Mr. Levenson said he would soon ask Judge Reinhardt for a similar hearing.
In addition, Congress may soon weigh in.
Senator Joseph I. Lieberman , independent of Connecticut , and Representative Tammy Baldwin, Democrat of Wisconsin , plan to introduce bills that would provide benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.
Similar bills died in the past. But “the new administration will have a new view,” Ms. Baldwin said.
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“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is the most anticipated movie in history, but can it translate that heat into the biggest opening weekend in box-office history in the dead of winter and the height of the holiday season?
The analysts are split on whether the J.J. Abrams-directed sci-fi saga, the first new “Star Wars” episode in more than a decade, can top the $208.8 million opening of “Jurassic World” over the summer. But nearly all surveyed believe it will come within striking distance.
Based on unprecedented levels of trailer views, advance tickets sales — likely up to $100 million at this point — and online buzz, a new record would seem a slam dunk for “The Force Awakens.” But this is the winter holiday season, not summer, and that makes a big difference. No movie has ever debuted to $100 million in December. The $84 million 2012 debut of “The Hobbit” is the top now.
Also Read: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Is 'Incredible' and 'Totally Delivers,' According to Hollywood Stars at Premiere
For all the anticipation, Disney won’t even break a record with its rollout into 4,100-plus theaters in the U.S. and Canada. It’s not even the year’s widest, with “Minions” and “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2” debuting in more locations.
One kink is “The Force Awakens” faces competition from Universal’s R-rated Tina Fey-Amy Poehler comedy “Sisters” and Fox’s kids film “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip,” which will be in 2,900 theaters and 3,600 locations respectively.
Disney is hoping the national weather forecast is on the money; it calls for most regions to be sunny or cold and clear this weekend. But inclement weather is always a threat this time of year, and roughly 400 drive-in theaters are closed for winter, which could be a factor in the record push.
Also Read: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Won't Break Record for Widest Opening Ever
Disney chose this date for a reason, however. With potential moviegoers distracted by shopping or traveling it doesn’t set up a great debut weekend, but it does position the film to take a run at becoming the highest-grossing in history. The two current leaders at the worldwide box office, “Avatar” ($2.7 billion) and “Titanic” ($2.1 billion) both opened in December, the former on the exact date six years ago.
“It’s all about the multiple,” Dave Hollis, Disney’s head of distribution, told TheWrap. He was using the industry term for the amount of money a movie makes in the weeks after its opening weekend and making the point that he’s hoping this will be a marathon not a sprint.
“As exciting as this opening is, we’re looking forward almost as much to that second week, which begins on Christmas Day,” said Hollis, who believes that week’s grosses will be on the same level as the first week’s. That’s mainly because around 15 percent of the nation’s students are out of school, and nearly all of them will be for the second weekend.
Also Read: 'Star Wars' Set to Match 'Avatar's' Historic Box Office Feat
Neither “Avatar” ($77 million) nor “Titanic” ($28.6 million) had spectacular openings, but both had extraordinary staying power. “Avatar” made $75 million in its second weekend.
“Disney has made all the right moves on this one,” Exhibitor Relations senior media analyst Jeff Bock told TheWrap. “Broadening the ethnic base with diverse casting, putting females front and center in the marketing, keeping the plot secret and giving the stars of the earlier films a lot of the spotlight will all pay off.”
Britain’s Daisy Ridley and John Boyega top the list of newcomers in the cast. They’ll join returning stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill.
Also Read: 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Review Embargo Set by Disney, Lucasfilm
The reviews, which land Wednesday, will have a lot to do with whether “The Force Awakens” is simply huge, or something we’ve never seen at the box office before, Bock explained.
“If they’re really great, that fan base, which is like no other, is going to be super-motivated and not only evangelize but also come back for multiple viewings,” said Bock, noting that the young “Stars War” faithful were the original “fan boys.” “We never had action figures come out of movies until then,” he said.
“Really strong reviews will also mobilize people who don’t normally go to the movies over the coming weeks, the way ‘Titanic’ did,” said Bock. He believes the record’s survival may come down to the competition.
Also Read: 'Star Wars' Producer Kathleen Kennedy Believes 'The Force' May Have Guided J.J. Abrams' Career
“Say ‘Sisters’ and ‘The Chipmunks Movie’ both do $15 million,” he said. “That’s $30 million that you can figure came right out of ‘Star Wars.’ I can definitely see that kind of swing making the difference.”
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Bryan Burk and Abrams, who shared scripting duties with Michael Arndt and Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi.” John Williams composed the score.
The studio says the production budget on “The Force Awakens,” the seventh film in the franchise, was $200 million. It could be double that and still be a bargain for Disney, since it is kicking off a trilogy of new “Star Wars” films and spawning two spinoffs, one featuring Han Solo and another on bounty hunter Boba Fett that will drive billions in revenue from licensing and merchandise.
The rollout of “The Force Awakens” is also a testimony to the long-range vision of Disney CEO and Chairman Robert Iger, who in the midst of a recession guided his company’s pricey acquisitions of Pixar Animation, Marvel Studios and finally George Lucas‘ Lucasfilm, which owned the rights to the “Star Wars” franchise.
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Our friends at Bad Left Hook brought our attention to another boxing champion who is apparently seriously considering a move to mixed martial arts. That fighter, a three division world champion, and the current IBO title holder, Vic Darchinyan (37-3-1).
The Armenian is set to challenge Anselmo Moreno for the WBA Super-bantamweight title this Saturday. During the final press conference for the Showtime event, Gary Shaw gave out this little tidbit about Darchinyan's future:
"If he should win (the WBA title), he probably will retire from boxing, and Darchinyan, will probably go in to MMA, following in the footsteps of Kimbo Slice" "Vic is serious about going to MMA after he completes his triumph on Saturday night"
Before we break down the prospect of having a guy like Darchinyan in MMA, let's just make one thing clear -- If he does makes that switch, he wouldn't be following the footsteps of Kimbo Slice, a guy who came from YouTube bare knuckle street fights.
Now that we got that out of the way, here's why Darchinyan thinks he can successfully make the jump to MMA:
"I already have a strong wrestling base and am confident I could make the switch... That could honestly happen within a year, but who knows?"
That "strong wrestling base" he claims to have, came from learning from his dad, who was an Olympic wrestling coach.
He might be bold enough to truly make that jump, and he can probably KO a bunch of scrubs and lower level guys, but there are several reasons why he probably won't make that move to MMA, let along be successful in doing so. Here's why:
- He's 35 years old, and he has never really competed or trained in grappling or kickboxing. We don't know how serious he was with his wrestling, but we do know that he hasn't used that "strong wrestling base" in decades.
- He fights at 118 lbs. The lightest weight class is Flyweight, which is at 125 lbs. That weight class isn't even in the UFC or Bellator yet, so if he wants to compete at the big shows, the smallest division they have is at 135 lbs.
- Money. He may be nearing the tail end of his career, but he's still a top-level boxer who can earn more money in boxing, than fighting relatively unknown and low level guys in MMA.
Even if he truly dedicates himself, it will be hard for him to unlearn the things and habits from a lifetime of boxing, to try an learn the finer points of the striking and grappling involved in MMA. Even if we disregard that fact, will he be willing to take a smaller pay check, fighting in smaller shows for the next couple of years? I doubt it.
That being said, I do enjoy these freakshow-ish bouts, so honestly, I'd watch it.
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Iraq has received a second shipment of Mi-28NE Night Hunter attack helicopters, which are designed to destroy aerial and ground targets during any time of day and under any weather conditions.
MOSCOW, February 2 (Sputnik) — The Iraqi Army Air Corps has received a second shipment of two Russian Mi-28NE "Night Hunter" attack helicopters, Iraq's Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday.
"The Iraqi Ground Forces' Air Corps has received another shipment consisting of two Mi-28NE Night Hunter helicopters," the ministry announced in a press release. According to a video published by the ministry, the helicopters arrive on an An-124-100 jet belonging to Volga-Dnepr airlines.
According to the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade, in October 2012 Russia and Iraq concluded a contract to supply 28 Mi-35M and 15 Mi-28NE attack helicopters to the country. The first shipment arrived in Iraq on August 28, 2014.
© Sputnik / Alexey Kudenko Three Russian Military Aircraft Make Flightglobal's 2015 Top 10 Ranking
The Mi-28NE Night Hunter attack helicopter is designed for search-and-destroy missions during any time of day and during difficult weather conditions, and can destroy armored and non-armored vehicles and equipment, enemy manpower and low-speed aerial targets. Its armaments consist of a 30-mm 2A42 autocannon with 250 rounds, 9M114 Shturm or 9M120 Ataka anti-tank guided missiles, 9M39 Igla-V and R-3 air-to-air missiles, S-8 and S-13 unguided rockets, and UPK-23-250V 23 mm machine gun pods.
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The Battle of Varna took place on 10 November 1444 near Varna in eastern Bulgaria. The Ottoman Army under Sultan Murad II defeated the Hungarian–Polish and Wallachian armies commanded by Władysław III of Poland (also King of Hungary), John Hunyadi (acting as commander of the combined Christian forces) and Mircea II of Wallachia. It was the final battle of the Crusade of Varna.[6][7]
Background [ edit ]
The Hungarian Kingdom fell into crisis after the death of King Sigismund in 1437. His son-in-law and successor, King Albert, ruled for only two years and died in 1439, leaving his widow Elizabeth with an unborn child, Ladislaus the Posthumous. The Hungarian noblemen then called the young King Władysław III of Poland to the throne of Hungary, expecting his aid in defense against the Ottomans. After his Hungarian coronation, he never went back to his homeland again, assuming rule of the Hungarian Kingdom next to the influential nobleman John Hunyadi.
After failed expeditions in 1440–42 against Belgrade and Transylvania, and the defeats of the "long campaign" of Hunyadi in 1442–43, the Ottoman sultan Murad II signed a ten-year truce with Hungary. After he had made peace with the Karaman Emirate in Anatolia in August 1444, he resigned the throne to his twelve-year-old son Mehmed II.
Anticipating an Ottoman invasion encouraged by the young and inexperienced new Ottoman sultan, Hungary co-operated with Venice and Pope Eugene IV to organize a new crusader army led by Hunyadi and Władysław III. On receipt of this news, Mehmet II understood that he was too young and inexperienced to successfully fight the coalition. He recalled Murad II to the throne to lead the army into battle, but Murad II refused. Angry at his father, who had long since retired to a contemplative life in southwestern Anatolia, Mehmed II wrote, "If you are the Sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the Sultan I hereby order you to come and lead my armies." It was only after receiving this letter that Murad II agreed to lead the Ottoman army.
Preparations [ edit ]
The mixed Papal army was composed mainly of Hungarian, Polish, Bohemian (whose combined armies numbered 15,000) and Wallachian (7,000)[8] forces, with smaller detachments of Czechs, Papal knights, Teutonic Knights, Bosnians, Croatians, Bulgarians, Lithuanians and Ruthenians.[9]
Papal, Venetian and Genoese ships under Alvise Loredan had blockaded the Dardanelles as the Hungarian army was to advance on Varna, where it would meet the Papal fleet and sail down the coast to Constantinople, pushing the Ottomans out of Europe. The Hungarian advance was rapid, Ottoman fortresses were bypassed, while local Bulgarians from Vidin, Oryahovo, and Nicopolis joined the army (Fruzhin, son of Ivan Shishman, also participated in the campaign with his own guard). On October 10 near Nicopolis, some 7,000[8] Wallachian cavalrymen under Mircea II, one of Vlad Dracul's sons, also joined.
Armenian refugees in the Kingdom of Hungary also took part in the wars of their new country against the Ottomans as early as the battle of Varna in 1444, when some Armenians were seen amongst the Christian forces.[10]
Deployment [ edit ]
The Hussite Wagenburg - an old sketch from the 15th century.
Late on November 9, a large Ottoman army of around 50,000 men approached Varna from the west. At a supreme military council called by Hunyadi during the night, the Papal legate, cardinal Julian Cesarini, insisted on a quick withdrawal. However, the Christians were caught between the Black Sea, Lake Varna, the steep wooded slopes of the Franga Plateau (356 m high), and the enemy. Cesarini then proposed a defense using the Wagenburg of the Hussites until the arrival of the Christian fleet. The Hungarian magnates and the Croatian and Czech commanders backed him, but the young (20-year-old) Władysław and Hunyadi rejected the defensive tactics. Hunyadi declared: "To escape is impossible, to surrender is unthinkable. Let us fight with bravery and honor our arms." Władysław accepted this position and gave him the command. Andreas del Palatio states that Hunyadi commanded the "Wallachian army" indicating a large Romanian component in Hunyadi's personal army.[11]
In the morning of November 10, Hunyadi deployed the army of some 20,000 – 30,000 crusaders as an arc between Lake Varna and the Franga plateau; the line was about 3.5 km long. Two banners with a total of 3,500 men from the king's Polish and Hungarian bodyguards, Hungarian royal mercenaries, and banners of Hungarian nobles held the center. The Wallachian cavalry was left in reserve behind the center.
The right flank that lined up the hill towards the village of Kamenar numbered 6,500 men in 5 banners. Bishop Jan Dominek of Varadin with his personal banner led the force; Cesarini commanded a banner of German mercenaries and a Bosnian one. The Bishop of Eger led his own banner, and the military governor of Slavonia, ban Franco Talotsi, commanded one Croatian banner.
The left flank, a total of 5,000 men in 5 banners, was led by Michael Szilágyi, Hunyadi's brother in law, and was made up of Hunyadi's Transylvanians, Bulgarians, German mercenaries and banners of Hungarian magnates. Behind the Hungarians, closer to the Black Sea and the lake, was the Wagenburg, defended by 300 or 600 Czech and Ruthenian mercenaries under hetman Ceyka, along with Poles, Lithuanians and Wallachians. Every wagon was manned by 7 to 10 soldiers and the Wagenburg was equipped with bombards.
The Ottoman center included the Janissaries and levies from Rumelia deployed around two Thracian burial mounds. Murad observed and directed the battle from one of them. The Janissaries dug in behind ditches and two palisades. The right wing consisted of Kapikulus and Sipahis from Rumelia, and the left wing was made up by Akıncıs, Sipahis from Anatolia, and other forces. Janissary archers and Akıncı light cavalry were deployed on the Franga plateau.
Battle [ edit ]
Movements of the forces during the battle.
Kronika wszystkiego świata of A scene from the Battle of Varna (1444) on theof Marcin Bielski , published in 1564.
The light Ottoman cavalry assaulted the Croats of ban Talotsi. Christians from the left riposted with bombards and firearms and stopped the attack. Christian soldiers chased the Ottomans in a disorderly pursuit. The Anatolian cavalry ambushed them from the flank. The Christian right wing attempted to flee to the small fortress of Galata on the other side of Varna Bay, but most of them were slain in the marshland around Varna Lake and the River Devnya, where Cesarini also met his end. Only ban Talotsi's troops managed to withdraw behind the Wagenburg.
The other Ottoman flank assaulted the Hungarians and Bulgarians of Michael Szilagyi. Their push was stopped and turned back; then Sipahis attacked again. Hunyadi decided to help and advised Władysław to wait until he returned; then advanced with two cavalry companies. The young king, ignoring Hunyadi's advice, rushed 500 of his Polish knights against the Ottoman center. They attempted to overrun the Janissary infantry and take Murad prisoner, and almost succeeded, but in front of Murad's tent Władysław's horse either fell into a trap or was stabbed, and the king was slain by mercenary Kodja Hazar, who beheaded him while doing so.[12] The remaining coalition cavalry were demoralized and defeated by the Ottomans.
On his return, Hunyadi tried frantically to salvage the king's body, but all he could accomplish was to organize the retreat of the remains of his army; it suffered thousands of casualties in its chaos, and was virtually annihilated. Neither the head or body of the king have ever been found. Many crusade prisoners were slaughtered or sold as slaves;[citation needed] the minnesinger Michael Beheim wrote a song based on the story of one Hans Mergest who spent 16 years in Ottoman captivity after the battle.
Aftermath [ edit ]
The death of Władysław left Hungary in the hands of the four-year-old Ladislaus Posthumous of Bohemia and Hungary. He was succeeded in Poland by Casimir IV Jagiellon after a three-year interregnum.
Murad's casualties at Varna were so heavy, it was not until three days later that he realized he was victorious.[13] Nevertheless, the Ottoman victory in Varna, followed by the Ottoman victory in the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448, deterred the European states from sending any substantial military assistance to the Byzantines during the Ottoman siege of Constantinople in 1453.
Legacy [ edit ]
In the aftermath, the Ottomans had removed a significant opposition to their expansion into central and eastern Europe; subsequent battles forced a large number of Europeans to become Ottoman subjects.
The fallen Polish King was named Władysław III Warneńczyk in memory of the battle.
The Battle of Varna is commemorated on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw, with the inscription "WARNA 10 XI 1444".
References [ edit ]
Coordinates:
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(USA TODAY) — WASHINGTON — A network of some of the nation’s wealthiest Democratic donors is weighing providing money and support to several of the new activist groups that have cropped up since Election Day to challenge President Trump and his agenda.
Organizers of January’s Women’s March on Washington and leaders of Indivisible will make presentations later this week to the Democracy Alliance when the influential donor coalition holds its private spring meeting in Washington, the group’s president Gara LaMarche said.
LaMarche said he already has sought to connect alliance contributors to Indivisible, one of the groups at the forefront of anti-Trump efforts. Its organizers, led by former Democratic congressional aides, have created a how-to manual “for resisting the Trump agenda” that is modeled on conservative Tea Party tactics and has encouraged shows of opposition at congressional town hall meetings.
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Hello, there! The hiatus for Star vs. the Forces of Evil is once again over, and I thought I’d try something a little different this time around. I’m used to writing more in-depth analyses, but I think people in general would prefer to have content at a faster pace than I can usually produce it (anyone who follows this blog knows that it takes me forever to write an in-depth analysis post).
Therefore, I thought it might be more interesting during this part of the third season for me to just post my random thoughts on episodes as they air. I can come back later to develop a more thought-out analysis to connect other episodes. As these posts will discuss recently-aired episodes, please note that there are spoilers here!
“Scent of a Hoodie”
This episode’s title is a reference to the Italian film (and its American remake) Scent of a Woman. While I’m not sure offhand if there’s a deeper connection between this episode and the film, I do know that the episode ends with Marco smelling Star’s scent on the hoodie: that is, Star is the woman of the film reference.
Lavabo’s name translates to “sink” or “washbasin” (and, through euphemistic synecdoche, “lavatory”). This is a curious reference for several reasons:
As anyone who has followed this blog knows, I’ve been remarking on references to the Holy Grail for a long time in this series. Washbasins are, of course, evocative of the Holy Grail (due to being a vessel of spiritually-cleansing water).
Lavabo’s nature as a holy knight sworn to washing clothes brings to mind this proverb: “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”
The euphemistic double meaning of Lavabo’s name faintly echoes this scene of confusion in “Puddle Defender”:
In addition, Lavabo seems to be a composite of two (or more!) famous Grail Knights from film:
These references to elements surrounding the Holy Grail are unsurprising considering that the very next episode…
“Rest in Pudding”
Starts off with, yes, Lekmet’s funeral:
As my Holy Grail theory states, Lekmet’s remaining horn will become the Holy Grail, so it’s not terribly surprising to me that the series is heavily emphasizing the fact that, yes, Lekmet is dead for good.
Interestingly, both this episode and “Scent of a Hoodie” have strong references to water containers – punch bowls, sinks, basins, tubs, puddles, fonts – and Glossaryck has, in fact, always had a strong connection to water himself.
The role, metaphorically, that water plays in these episodes – as a medium for being cleansed and a medium through which one can “cross over” from the spirit world – illustrates, I think, both the physical and the spiritual significance of water. And that, of course, brings to mind the Holy Grail, the vessel which contains water that is both physically and spiritually rejuvenating/cleansing.
Acknowledgements
I’d like to give shout-outs to observations others have made about these episodes:
@oddsomeoddy noticed that the wash station in “Scent of a Hoodie” visually resembles the Well of Magic in “Rest in Pudding.” This is an astute observation, and I would suggest the connection is intentional.
Druid’s Forehead, a friend of mine from the Star vs. the Forces of Evil Discord server, thinks that there may be a baptism motif in these episodes, which, I agree, is absolutely present. (Again, this is connected to the idea of water’s agency in ritual cleansing.)
Thanks, guys!
Structure
If you recall my sonnet theory from February, it’s now my belief that the writers are fond of using hidden structures in the series – particularly poetic ones – in order to give episodes additional meaning. This is, I think, the hallmark of thoughtful artists: they are trying to pack as much meaning as possible into only a tiny space. This economy of meaning is particularly useful in animation, which is time-consuming and laborious to produce: you want every moment to count.
I have tentatively hypothesized that this season’s episodes are based on the Spenserian stanza, which has nine lines – just as November has nine episodes. This type of structure is from Spenser’s The Faerie Queene – and, interestingly, I think such a moniker of “faerie queen” might very well apply to Queen Eclipsa herself.
I’m not wedded to this idea, however, so it may change as the series develops. This is just a preliminary guess. I’ll be watching the episodes along with the rest of you and looking forward to the rest of this season!
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Police Calm London, But Riots Flare Across UK
Hide caption Police collect evidence at the scene where three people were killed after being struck by a vehicle in the Winson Green area on Aug. 10 in Birmingham, England. The three men were allegedly trying to protect local stores from looters. Previous Next Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Hide caption A shop owner sweeps up outside her property in Ealing, London on Aug. 10. After three nights of rioting and looting in and around London, the chaos has spread to other cities around Britain. Previous Next Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Hide caption People pose for photos in front of a burning car set alight during the second night of civil disturbances in central Birmingham on Aug. 9. Previous Next Tim Hales/AP
Hide caption Riot police patrol the street in Manchester on Aug 9. Britain began flooding London's streets with 16,000 police officers, nearly tripling their presence, to combat the worst rioting in a generation. Previous Next Jon Super/AP
Hide caption In the early hours of Aug. 9, firefighters in London battle a large fire that broke out in shops and residential properties. Looting and clashes with police continued for a third day in parts of the capital city after a fatal police shooting under disputed circumstances killed Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four, on Aug. 4. Previous Next Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Hide caption Firefighters damp smoldering buildings in the south London suburb of Croydon on Aug. 9. Emergency services have been cleaning up after three nights of rioting. Previous Next Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Hide caption A chair is left embedded in a restaurant window on Aug. 9 following a night of rioting in the Haven Green area of Ealing, another suburb of London. Previous Next Jim Dyson/Getty Images
Hide caption British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses the media in London on Aug. 8. Cameron announced the recall of Parliament from its summer recess to deal with the crisis. Previous Next Elizabeth Dalziel/AP
Hide caption A rioter throws a rock at riot police in Hackney, London, on Aug. 8. Previous Next Dan Istitene/Getty Images
Hide caption A woman can be seen jumping from a burning building in Croydon on Aug. 8. Previous Next WENN.com
Hide caption Police arrest an injured man for looting in South London on Aug. 8. Previous Next Simon Dawson/AP
Hide caption Violence and looting have spread across some of London's most impoverished neighborhoods. Here, police arrest another man in South London on Aug. 8. Previous Next Simon Dawson/AP
Hide caption Riot police patrol the street in Croydon on Aug. 8. Numerous buildings were set on fire in the South London suburb, including a 140-year-old furniture store. Previous Next Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images
Hide caption Fireman walk past the smoldering remains of a burned-out building after riots on Tottenham High Road in North London, Aug. 7. Previous Next Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Hide caption The rioting began in Tottenham after the police shooting that killed Duggan on Aug. 4. Women pass by a burned-out van on Tottenham High Road on Aug. 7. Previous Next Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Hide caption Buildings burn on Tottenham High Road in the North London suburb. A peaceful protest against Duggan's killing escalated into a riot on Aug.6. Previous Next Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images 1 of 16 i View slideshow
Thousands more police officers flooded London streets Tuesday in a bid to end Britain's worst rioting in a generation as nervous shopkeepers closed early and some residents stood guard to protect their neighborhoods. An eerie calm prevailed in the city, but unrest spread across central and northern England on a fourth night of violence driven by poor, diverse and brazen crowds of young people.
Scenes of ransacked stores, torched cars and blackened buildings frightened and outraged Britons just a year before London is to host the Olympics. London's Metropolitan Police force said Tuesday it would flood the streets with 16,000 officers. The department said a large presence would remain in the city through the next 24 hours at least.
"We have lots of information to suggest that there may be similar disturbances tonight," Cmdr. Simon Foy told the BBC. "That's exactly the reason why the [police force] has chosen to now actually really 'up the game' and put a significant number of officers on the streets."
toggle caption Dan Istitene/Getty Images
In Manchester, which previously hadn't seen violence, police began making arrests Tuesday as youths rampaged through the center of the northwestern city. Firefighters said a clothing store in the city center and a disused library in nearby Salford were set on fire.
Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney of the Greater Manchester police department urged residents to avoid the city center. "A handful of shops have been attacked by groups of youths who have congregated and seem intent on committing disorder," he said.
Degree Of Frustration With Response
The riots started Saturday with a protest over a police shooting in London's Tottenham neighborhood but have morphed into a general lawlessness in London and several other cities that police have struggled to halt with ordinary tactics. While the rioters have run off with sneakers, bikes, electronics and leather goods, they also have torched stores apparently just for the fun of seeing something burn.
Rioters, able to move quickly and regroup to avoid the police, were left virtually unchallenged in several neighborhoods, plundering stores at will.
Stores, offices and nursery schools in several parts of London closed early amid fears of fresh rioting Tuesday night, though pubs and restaurants were open. Police in one London district, Islington, advised people not to be out on the streets "unless absolutely necessary."
In central England, police said they made five arrests in Birmingham and dispersed a small group of people who torched two cars in the center of West Bromwich, a nearby town. Shops were targeted by rioters in the city of Wolverhampton, police said.
In London, riots and looting have flared from gritty suburbs along the capital's fringes to the posh Notting Hill neighborhood. The disorder has caused heartache for Londoners whose businesses and homes were torched or looted, and a crisis for police and politicians already staggering from a sputtering economy and a scandal over illegal phone hacking by a tabloid newspaper that has dragged in senior politicians and police.
People are seeing images of lines of police literally running away from rioters. For young people that is incredibly empowering. They are breaking the rules. They are getting away with it. No one is able to stop them.
"The public wanted to see tough action. They wanted to see it sooner and there is a degree of frustration," said Andrew Silke, head of the criminology department at the University of East London.
So far more than 560 people have been arrested in London and more than 100 charged, and the capital's prison cells were overflowing. Several dozen more were arrested in other cities.
Silke said it will be hard to control the rioting until police make larger numbers of arrests.
"People are seeing images of lines of police literally running away from rioters," he said. "For young people that is incredibly empowering. They are breaking the rules. They are getting away with it. No one is able to stop them."
The leader of a British far-right group says its members are taking to the streets of British cities in an attempt to quell the riots.
Stephen Lennon, leader of the English Defense League, told The Associated Press that up to 1,000 members planned to turn out in Luton, where the group is based, and others areas that have suffered unrest, including the northwestern city of Manchester.
Lennon said some members were already carrying out patrols trying to deter rioters, and that hundreds more would join them Wednesday.
"We're going to stop the riots, police obviously can't handle it," Lennon told the AP.
In an interview with NPR's Michele Norris, London's Deputy Mayor Kit Malthouse acknowledged that the authorities were caught off guard.
"To be honest, we were a little surprised about — well, quite a lot surprised, actually — about the level of the violence," he said. "It goes without saying that we were unprepared for the scale of the problem. We put more police officers on last night than we had on on Saturday or Sunday, and we will have even more on tonight to make sure that we deal with this problem. It's just taken us a bit of time to mobilize, I'm afraid."
In the end, though, Malthouse said he believed there had been "an awful lot of rationalization of criminal activity."
"I think that's fundamentally what it is. It is criminal activity, pure and simple. It's driven by greed, avarice and a desire to just grab other people's property," he said.
"I think you can try and confect some kind of complicated sociological argument about people's motivations for that criminality, but I think that's getting them off the hook. There is no excuse for it, absolutely none whatsoever," he told Norris.
This government is for the rich. It's not for the poor. It's not for the people that are trying. ... It's not fair.
London's beleaguered police force noted that it received more than 20,000 emergency calls on Monday — four times the normal number. Scotland Yard has called in reinforcements from around the country and asked all volunteer special constables to report for duty.
A soccer match scheduled for Wednesday between England and the Netherlands at London's Wembley Stadium was canceled to free up police officers for riot duty.
Police launched a murder inquiry after a man found with a gunshot wound during riots in the South London suburb of Croydon died of his injuries Tuesday. Police said 111 officers and 14 members of the public were hurt over the three days of rioting, including a man in his 60s with life-threatening injuries.
Prime Minister David Cameron — who cut short a holiday in Italy to deal with the crisis — recalled Parliament from its summer recess for an emergency debate on the riots and looting. He described the scenes of burning buildings and smashed windows as "sickening," but he refrained from tougher measures such as calling in the military to help police restore order.
"People should be in no doubt that we will do everything necessary to restore order to Britain's streets and to make them safe for the law-abiding," Cameron told reporters after a crisis meeting at his Downing Street office.
Parliament will return to duty on Thursday, as the political fallout from the rampage takes hold. The crisis is a major test for Cameron's Conservative-led coalition government.
Simmering Racial, Social Tensions
Violence first broke out late Saturday in the low-income, multi-ethnic district of Tottenham in North London, after a protest against the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four who was gunned down in disputed circumstances on Aug. 7.
Police said Duggan was shot dead when officers from Operation Trident — the unit that investigates gun crime in the black community — stopped a cab he was riding in.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the shooting, said a "non-police firearm" was recovered at the scene but that there was no evidence it had been fired — a revelation that could fuel the anger of the local community.
An inquest into Duggan's death was opened Tuesday, though it is likely to be several months before a full hearing.
Duggan's death stirred memories of the 1980s, when many black Londoners felt they were disproportionately stopped and searched by police. The frustration erupted in violent riots in 1985.
Relations have improved since then but tensions remain, and many young people of all races mistrust the police.
Others pointed to rising social tensions in Britain as the government slashes $130 billion from public spending by 2015 to reduce the huge deficit, swollen after the country spent billions bailing out its foundering banks.
A London woman named Alison, who was fearful of giving her full name, told NPR's Philip Reeves that it is important to remember the suffering of the working class.
"What do they expect? You know what, my 21-year-old goes out there every single day looking for work, and there's no work, yet still he will get penalized in this country for not having a job," she said.
The British leaders now scrambling to restore order have been battered by scandals that include expenses claims by members of Parliament, cozy relations with Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspapers, and bankers' bonuses.
Alison says the government is simply out of touch.
"This government is for the rich. It's not for the poor. It's not for the people that are trying. They fiddle their expenses; they con us out of money," she said. "It's not fair.
In Croydon, fire gutted a 140-year-old family-run department store, House of Reeves, and forced nearby homes to be evacuated.
"I'm the fifth generation to run this place," said owner Graham Reeves, 52. "I have two daughters. They would have been the sixth."
"No one's stolen anything," he said. "They just burnt it down."
NPR's Philip Reeves contributed to this report, which contains material from The Associated Press
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Some Silk Road drug dealers are promising to donate a percentage of this week’s sales to charity
Black markets are supposed to be dangerous places. Drug dealers are bad guys. Drug users are selfish hedonists who would steal from their Grandma for a fix.
Except when they’re not.
I’ve always been struck by how civil and intelligent the majority of contributors to the Silk Road forums are. For a place that prides itself on libertarianism and free speech, it remains remarkably troll-free much of the time. And some of the most popular threads are the particularly warm and fuzzy ones. Two that spring to mind are DoctorX’s personalised medical advice thread; and the Spare Coins thread, where members transfer Bitcoin to those who find themselves short for an order, with a ‘pay it forward’ vibe.
This week, Silk Road vendor FiberOptic stated that he/she feels like “it’s time to pass on a bit of the good fortune to others”. FiberOptic has promised to donate 30% of this week’s sales to charity. Half will be donated to Erowid, a drugs harm reduction organisation and the other half to Seans Outpost, a charity that helps the homeless.
FiberOptic urged others to do likewise. So far two other vendors have offered to donate a percentage of profits to charities of their choice, yet to be determined.
There is some concern about whether the charities in question will be happy to accept donations that are squarely proceeds of crime. But donations will be irreversible Bitcoin transactions, so they can no more be traced or returned to the donors than a bag of cash left anonymously in the letterbox.
The amounts could be quite substantial, especially if more vendors come on board – one seller has stated they will donate “between 5% and 20% of one weeks gross earnings, should be roughly around 10k”.
Of course, some have derided it as a publicity stunt, but if worthy charities benefit, then who cares? It will be interesting to see how many vendors actually come through with the coin.
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Nestled early into President Obama’s State of the Union speech last night was a short bit about how the housing market and housing lenders have become a little too cautious.
After a housing disaster driven by unscrupulous lenders who handed handing out loans all too freely, the industry needed to reform its ways.
But according to the president and many economists, they've gone too far in the other direction, with only those with impeccable credit granted loans or refinancing. And now that the housing market is making steady gains (driven largely by investors who can pay cash), it’s time to loosen things up a bit for ordinary families who are ready to buy.
“Home prices are rising at the fastest pace in six years, home purchases are up nearly 50 percent, and construction is expanding again,” Mr. Obama said Tuesday night. “But even with mortgage rates near a 50-year low, too many families with solid credit who want to buy a home are being rejected. Too many families who have never missed a payment and want to refinance are being told no. That’s holding our entire economy back, and we need to fix it.”
The question is: Can the market right itself or should the government step in?
Slowly, lenders are loosening their credit standards. But the pace is far too slow, according to some economists.
“After a period when cheap mortgages were too available, the pendulum has swung too far; a lack of finance is holding the economy back,” former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers wrote in a Financial Times column last Sunday. “The clearest evidence is the growing number of lower- and middle-income families paying rents to the private-equity firms that own their homes at rates far above what a mortgage would cost.”
Obama’s solution: a bill that would extend refinancing to homeowners with privately financed underwater loans. (Homeowners with government-backed loans already have refinancing opportunities, thanks to executive action taken last year.) He introduced the proposal back in September, and mentioned it again last night:
“Right now, there’s a bill in this Congress that would give every responsible homeowner in America the chance to save $3,000 a year by refinancing at today’s rates.… Right now, overlapping regulations keep responsible young families from buying their first home. What’s holding us back? Let’s streamline the process, and help our economy grow.”
He’s been down this road before. According to a paper released last week by Amherst Moirtgage Insight, “President Obama sketched out a refinancing program in his State of the Union address in early 2012. He urged Congress to allow homeowners whose loans are not backed by Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) to refinance, through a new FHA [Federal Housing Administration] program, and proposed paying for the plan with a new fee on large financial institutions.”
The proposal lost steam, and a number of bills and proposals concerning both private and government-backed refinancing have languished in Congress since. But Obama’s patience may be wearing thin. According to the Washington Post, the president is weighing taking executive action on housing instead of going through Congress.
“The plan, if adopted, would likely be aimed at homeowners who have otherwise kept up with their mortgage payments but have been unable to refinance because the loan against their home exceeds its depressed value,” the Post reports. “Many Republicans in Congress have balked at the idea amid concerns over the cost to taxpayers.”
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Of course, political intervention can have unintended consequences.
Early in the housing bubble Congress also pressured the GSEs – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – to loosen their credit standards so that more low-income people would qualify for loans and buy homes. That pressure helped boost the number of subprime borrowers, who in turn became fodder for Wall Street's machinations, which ended in the bursting of the housing bubble.
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There used to be a saying in the media world that "content is king." In other words, if you produced the televisions shows and feature films viewers wanted, you had competitive advantages over other companies in the sector.
Does that expression still hold? That's debatable, as the media sector has seen its fair share of innovations that have changed how millions of Americans consume programming. Indeed, no longer do households eat dinner and then watch the news and a hit show that comes on during prime time. Rather, consumers are more likely to binge watch an entire season of a favorite show in one weekend or watch a hit movie on their cellphones or tablets. Then, add in companies such as Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon.com (AMZN), which not only have allowed consumers to get around the traditional broadcast television model but are also developing original content.
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The UK will vote on its European future just as the EU finalises a new patent system – a coincidence with implications for SMEs
The UK’s impending EU referendum is posing many economic questions for SMEs, one of which is about intellectual property. Many SMEs are wondering what impact Brexit could have on the process of seeking patent protection in Europe.
For the European Patent Office (EPO), the body that grants patents, the potential for a Brexit has come at a particularly inconvenient time after several years of efforts to ratify the new unitary patent scheme in Europe.
The unitary patent is set to be granted by the EPO and will be valid in 26 countries, with a centralised court of enforcement known as the Unified Patent Court (UPC). It was conceived as a way to cut down on the cost, administration and red-tape of filing and enforcing a patent across many European jurisdictions. Under the unitary system, those seeking patent protection in multiple markets can file a single application to the EPO, and if granted, see it have immediate effect across all relevant states and pay a single renewal fee.
The future of the initiative, however, hangs in the balance. In order to be passed, it is compulsory that the three member states with the highest number of European patent validations ratify the agreement. The UK is one of these states, and it has yet to do so. EPO president Benoît Battistelli remarked recently at the EPO’s annual results briefing in Brussels that it was “obvious” that a Brexit would result in “a reduction and a weakness” in the unitary patent scheme’s appeal.
If the UK votes to leave the EU in June, Britain would automatically exclude itself from the unitary patent scheme, as EU membership is a requirement. How would this affect SMEs?
What would Brexit mean for SME patent applicants?
If Brexit were to happen — and the UK’s exclusion from the unitary patent scheme followed by default — the current system that SMEs use to apply for patents in Europe wouldn’t change much. A business in the UK would file a classical patent application to the EPO for whatever European foreign market it is seeking patent protection in as well as its home market (it could also apply for a domestic patent from the UK’s IPO). Those classical patents granted by the EPO would then still have to be validated at the country level, a step that is not necessary under the proposed unitary system.
However, if the Brexit did not occur and the unitary patent did go forward with the UK as a participating state, the benefit to SMEs would depend on the nature of their business activities abroad. The EPO states that the cost reduction from a unitary patent would be as high as 70% when compared to the current system. While this would definitely benefit large multinationals who generally need patent protection in all markets, Andrew Bowler, a partner at London law firm Bristows and an expert on intellectual property matters, says the benefit for SMEs would be largely dependent on the number of foreign markets a company is seeking protection in.
“The renewal fee for a unitary patent has been based on the equivalent of having four patents in four European territories: UK, Germany, France and Italy,” Bowler says. “But obviously if it was an SME with just a home market of the UK and a single foreign market of France, it would only need two patents, so it becomes a question of whether it’s cost effective or not to apply for a unitary patent, when it could just apply for those two.”
David Knight, a partner in law firm Fieldfisher’s intellectual property and technology team, added that if the Brexit were to occur, British SMEs who needed patent protection across Europe could still file for the unitary patent — as can any foreign company — it just wouldn’t include patent protection at home as part of the package.
“If Britain left the EU, a UK SME could still apply for a unitary patent, but that coverage would exclude Britain, so they’d have to have a separate British patent to sit alongside it.”
What about enforcement?
While the application process wouldn’t change much, the enforcement side is where experts say things could get thorny.
Unitary patents will be litigated by the UPC, whose rulings are legally binding across all participating countries. Once the unitary patent scheme begins, classical patent holders will also have their patents litigated under the UPC (unless they opt out during the transitional period) whether Brexit occurs or not.
Ironically, Knight says, while the UPC presents one of the main benefits of the unitary patent system by reducing legal red tape, it’s also where it could present a potential danger for SMEs.
“On the face of it, enforcement proceedings from the UPC would be a lot more economical and make it easier for SMEs to assert their patent rights, which is a good thing,” Knight said. “But on the other side of the fence, if they’re being accused of infringement spread out over a number of jurisdictions, then the cost benefit of pursuing an action against that SME infringer may shift when the UPC comes along, thereby making SMEs more likely to be embroiled in engagement.”
Bowler adds that there is another danger of SMEs being sued by a foreign division of the UPC in a language they may not understand.
“If, for example, the SME advertised over the internet, it could be sued in a foreign local division of the UPC with the language of the proceedings being that local language.”
Will the unitary patent happen?
While the EPO insisted recently that the unitary patent is “ready to launch”, they’ve had to concede that the UK’s delayed ratification, which was hitherto uncontested, means they have to wait and see.
The EPO president, Benoît Battistelli, said in an interview: “The legal conditions are now met for a positive vote for ratification of this treaty. Now it’s a question of timing and awaiting the result of the referendum which has arrived in the process.”
Knight says that there are two likely scenarios in the event of a Brexit.
“There’s some school of thought that [the unitary patent] will go on regardless, just that the UK won’t be part of it,” Knight says. “Another school of thought is that without the UK being part of it – because it’s such a major economy in Europe – it will come to a stop. My gut feeling is that it’s probably more likely to carry on.”
Bowler added that while there are many factors that might influence how an SME votes in the upcoming referendum, it’s still essential for SMEs to be aware of the potential changes regarding patents.
“I suspect any SME would be motivated by broader commercial drivers about whether a Brexit is good or bad for their business, but in the narrow point of patents, it may well depend on how many markets you’re trying to protect and your risk of facing infringement proceedings in local divisions elsewhere in Europe.”
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From educational attainment to safety to public health, residents in America's poorest neighborhoods are so often found to be at a disadvantage. And now according to a new study, they're also much more likely to be in physical pain.
Published recently in the Journal of Pain, the study looked at incidences of chronic pain in people aged 18 to 49 and found significantly higher rates among those living in lower income areas as compared to more affluent areas.
The report notes that "[l]iving in a lower [socioeconomic status] neighborhood was associated with increased sensory, affective, and 'other' pain, pain-related disability, and mood disorders."
In a survey of about 3,700 adults, the researchers also found higher rates of chronic pain among African Americans.
These correlations aren't particularly surprising. A large number of factors tend to play into why discrepancies exist between people in low income neighborhoods and those in higher income neighborhoods. As our own Richard Florida explained last fall in his article "America's Great Dental Divide," income is hardly the only data point that explains, in this case, why some people go to the dentist and others don't:
Dental visits closely track socioeconomic class. They are much higher in states where a higher percentage of the workforce is employed in knowledge, professional, and creative work. The creative class is significantly associated with dentist visits (.31). The same is true of the share of college graduates, a measure of the knowledge base and human capital in a state. The correlation between dental visits and college grads is even higher (.65). On the flip side, visits to the dentist are negatively associated with the working class share of a state’s workforce (-.28).
Access to health insurance, for example, also plays a role in who sees a dentist, or any other health professional for that matter. In lower-income areas, there's a higher chance that peoples' jobs don't provide health insurance, which might make someone more likely to simply deal with that bum leg than go get it checked out. And it's often the case that one ailment leads to another, creating a cycle of medical or pain issues that only get worse.
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Six committed same-sex couples have sued the state of Montana for failing to offer legal protections to same-sex couples and their families in violation of the Montana Constitution's rights of privacy, dignity and the pursuit of life's basic necessities and its guarantees of equal protection and due process. The goal of this lawsuit is to see that same-sex couples are able to protect their families with the same kind of legal protections that the State offers to different-sex couples through marriage.
Because there is a constitutional amendment in Montana barring marriage for same-sex couples, this lawsuit is not seeking marriage. The couples in the suit are seeking the protection of state-recognized domestic partnerships.
STATUS: The Montana Supreme Court has granted, in part, our appeal to secure domestic partnership protections. Though the court denied the plaintiffs’ initial appeal as too broad, the justices allowed the ACLU to move forward with more narrowly tailored efforts to secure equal treatment for same-sex couples in the state.
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Forza Horizon 2 developer Playground Games was founded back in 2009 in Leamington Spa, a quiet town tucked away in the UK’s West Midlands region. Despite Leamington’s modest size, it actually boasts one of the highest concentrations of games developers in the UK. FreeStyleGames, Supersonic Software, and Codemasters are just some of the teams based in Leamington and the surrounding area.
When Playground first squared away the deal with Microsoft and Turn 10 to develop the original Forza Horizon, there were less than 20 staff. Today the studio boasts over 100 employees, spread across three floors of the charismatic, Regency-style building the team has set up shop in. On the outside, things are still; there’s little activity on the leafy, tree-lined street upon which Playground’s office sits. Past the closely-cropped lawn and through the surprisingly grand doorway, however, and things are a lot more bustling.
The Power and the Passion
Forza Horizon 2 creative director Ralph Fulton.
Yet despite the busy build-up to E3, and with the release of Forza Horizon 2 steadily approaching later this year, creative director Ralph Fulton seems happy and relaxed.
Sitting in Playground’s modern lobby, surrounded on all sides by shelves full of die-cast cars of all manner of models and scales, Fulton explains how the idea of a complementary Forza franchise came about in the first place.
“I think it all has to come from a vision,” says Fulton. “Something that you’re passionate about. Something that you feel you just have to make.”
Check out the reflection in the water. Woah.
“We were really fortunate to get an opportunity to come into the Forza family, and Forza Motorsport has been one of the greatest racing franchises for the past decade. We felt we had to do something different, but we also felt we had to do something we believed in.
“We believed in giving players freedom. We believed in giving them a more fun experience, something action-packed, and that’s what Horizon is. And I think from Forza Horizon to Forza Horizon 2 we’ve really been able to take that to the next level.
“Part of that is about Xbox One. Part of it is about us really solidifying that vision, and understanding what it is we’re making, and I think also being able to deliver something our players really want.”
Holiday Road
The Southern European setting seems like such a logical choice; a no-brainer that really taps into the fantasy of threading absurdly-expensive supercars through the French and Italian countryside. It’s the sort of thing you might see the hosts of the BBC’s Top Gear doing every other week. Fulton confirms these parts of Europe could have formed the basis for the original Forza Horizon rather than Colorado but, in retrospect, he’s glad they waited until now.
“Going between these two countries gives you such diversity in terms of what you see.”
“You’ll see how that’s truly paid off, because going between these two countries gives you such diversity in terms of what you see, in terms of the roads you drive,” says Fulton. “But you’re absolutely right, I think we always went back to those YouTube videos you get – not necessarily the Top Gear ones, which are beautifully shot, beautifully filmed – but some of the Handycam stuff that people have done. Two guys, in Ferraris, just driving around the Amalfi Coast or something like that. You’re like, ‘I want to do that. That’s where I want to go.’”
Fulton explains Southern Europe won out over a wide range of possibilities considered, from California to Australia.
“We looked all over the world,” he says. “I think we auditioned more than 30 locations, in the US, in Europe, and farther flung places. We had a long list of criteria we wanted our perfect location to satisfy.”
Smashing, baby.
“Actually, we had a scoring system; we scored each of the locations based on their relative merits. Southern Europe ticked so many of the boxes we needed ticked. It’s such a beautiful part of the world. It’s unspoilt. It has fantastic driving roads, amazing environmental diversity, and just stunning vistas that you really want to explore.”
“We’ve been driving around North America in open-world games quite a lot over the 20 couple of years. Southern Europe just felt fresh.”
Basically, the team really wanted to go somewhere “fresh.”
“We wanted to go somewhere a little bit exotic, somewhere that felt like the greatest summer road trip,” says Fulton. “I think that necessitates coming away from America. Not because that it isn’t a very fertile place for games; I think because we just thought we’ve been driving around North America in open-world games quite a lot over the last couple of years. Southern Europe just felt fresh, it felt different, it felt new, and it was a gimme for us.”
It’s the world itself that has posed the biggest challenge for Playground Games, Fulton reveals.
“None of this stuff is easy,” he admits. “We spent a lot of time re-engineering our online system. We’ve spent a lot of time on our weather system; that took a lot of technology and art resources to build from the ground up. But I think building the world is the biggest challenge.”
“It’s a massive world, and the undertaking to build not just the roads, but everything off them on either side – farmland, crops, hills, mountains, forests – is a huge undertaking. I think that’s the thing that people will get long term value out of as they play the game. There are always new things to find [and] new places to explore.”
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Crown prosecutors are still seeking a motive in the extortion case against Mayor Rob Ford’s friend Alexander “Sandro” Lisi, a Toronto court heard Friday. “We do not know precisely what motivated Mr. Lisi,” crown attorney John Patton told Mr. Justice Ian Nordheimer during arguments over how much more of two search warrant documents can be released.
Mayor Rob Ford with, from left, Anthony Smith, Monir Kassim and Muhammad Khattak outside 15 Windsor Rd. in Etobikoke where the video allegedly showing Ford smoking crack was filmed.
Nordheimer approved the release of a few more sections at noon Friday, but has reserved his decision on the bulk of the information. In the new documents released, detectives state that they intercepted calls between Ford and Lisi during the two-day time period when the alleged threats by Lisi were made to the people believed to have the video. Police only know the calls were made, not what was said on them. Lisi is facing drug trafficking and extortion charges, the latter related to his alleged attempt to retrieve the crack cocaine video of Ford from the man who made it and an associate. Lisi’s lawyer argued that releasing details of the alleged threats, and wiretap information connected to the allegations, would severely prejudice his client’s right to a fair trial. Media lawyers argued that the public has the right to know the details of the case because it involves a high-profile investigation of the top municipal politician in Canada’s largest city.
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In the portions that were released, investigators have noted they discovered telephone contact between Ford and Lisi during the May 16-18 2013 time period when Lisi allegedly threatened the two men to turn over the crack video. Investigators say that during the key two-day time period (news of the video’s existence surfaced on May 17) they have learned from phone records that Lisi was in contact with Ford, both through his cell phone, ONSTAR and home number, and Lisi was also in contact with Elena Basso, the woman at whose house the video was filmed in February 17, 2013. Lisi was also in contact with Mohamed Siad, who made the video, his associate Liban Syad, and with the mayor’s assistant Thomas Beyer. Also in the document released were reports of a death threat of sorts directed at Mohamed Farah, the man who tried to broker the sale of the video to the Star and Gawker. In one wiretap (only some phones connected to the case were wiretapped), detectives overheard an unknown person discussing on May 18 how news of the video is everywhere. Blame for this seems to be directed at Farah and detectives say the unknown man on the phone says to another man “if he could kill anyone it would be (Farah),” according to the search warrant document filed in court. Farah, a community worker who had told the Star he was trying to help people involved in drugs start a new life, is referred to by his associates as “Big Dog.”
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When Android founder Andy Rubin stepped away from the mobile operating system he helped create, rumors suggested he would pursue his lifelong love of real robots instead. Now, The New York Times reports that those rumors were true: Google has purchased seven different robot companies for a secretive new robotics initiative — and placed Rubin at its head.
"I have a history of making my hobbies into a career."
The story apparently comes from Rubin himself, who granted the Times an interview but wouldn't provide many details about Google's plans. Apparently, the robot group is distinct from the Google X lab, which has become synonymous with the company's crazier hardware projects, such as self-driving cars and balloon-powered internet. However, Rubin said that the new division — which could even be spun off as a separate company — is still pursuing a "moonshot" of that sort. Currently, Rubin is hiring roboticists for the project, which the Times reports will maintain offices in both Palo Alto and Japan.
It's not clear what kind of robots the group will build, but several of the companies involved previously built humanoid robots and robotic arms, and it seems like Rubin is suggesting that Google's creation might be able to move, reach, and grab things like a person. According to "several people with specific knowledge of the project," the robots will likely be used in manufacturing rather than sold to consumers, and might specifically be used in electronics assembly — which could fit well with the tech industry's recent push for Made in the USA products. China's Foxconn, which produces many consumer electronics devices including Apple products, began replacing workers with robots last year. US companies attempting to reduce dependance on China might want to follow suit. There's already one company building a robot that attempts to fill that niche: Baxter, a $22,000 "coworking" robot designed to assist humans with basic assembly line tasks without risk of injury.
For Rubin, manufacturing is a return to the past. According to a 2007 profile, Rubin began as a robot engineer at lens manufacturer Carl Zeiss and had a brief stint at Apple as a manufacturing engineer before devoting his working hours to developing computers instead. However, robotics remained a hobby, with Rubin both building his own and amassing a collection of robots from Japan. The Android operating system's name was no accident: Rubin's coworkers at Apple started calling him "Android" because of his love of robots, and he adopted the name for his own purposes years later.
Now, Google has allowed him to build those robots all day long. "I have a history of making my hobbies into a career," Rubin told the Times. "This is the world's greatest job. Being an engineer and a tinkerer, you start thinking about what you would want to build for yourself."
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It seems that having ones liberties removed over cancer related circumstances are becoming a theme these days. First we have the tragic case of a girl being forced to undergo chemo by the state of CT, and then a father who gave his 2 year old daughter cannabis oil to ease the pain she was experiencing from lung cancer was jailed.
While there is no positive update on Cassandra’s chemo prison, there is at least the reunification of a father and his terminally ill daughter, as Adam Koessler has been released from jail on bail. Via Yahoo:
When Adam Koessler’s 2-year-old daughter Rumer Rose was diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma recently, he began supplementing her chemo treatments with doses of cannabis oil, seeing “amazing” results. Still, Koessler lives in Australia, where medical marijuana is illegal, and he was arrested Jan. 2 for his efforts; he was released on bail but now faces charges for possessing dangerous drugs and for supplying them to a minor, and is due back in court on Friday. The situation has outraged thousands around the world, who have signed online petitions and raised money in support of the single dad.
Another victim of the “War on Drugs.” You know that this same situation would play out in the exact same manner here in the USA, without a doubt – despite the fact that it is well known that cannabis can ease suffering from cancer and help with appetite during chemotherapy. At least in the US it could be argued that the legality of marijuana in some states for medical purposes warranted use on a child (as it should in my opinion), but Australia’s government looks to be less than lenient.
On Jan. 9, Rumer was moved to the hospital’s intensive care unit after having seizures. In the meantime, note administrators of Koessler’s Fearless Father page on Facebook, “We want to say thank you, to all of the amazing people who are supporting Adam, sending him hundreds of personal messages of support, showing your support on this page. All of that positive is helping Adam to stay calm and believe that good will come of all of this. This is a fight that will make a difference for so many people around Australia and the world.”
Can you imagine if this man’s daughter had died while he was jailed for trying to make her life bearable? All because of an antiquated and idiotic notion that the state should have any say over what someone puts into their body or deems appropriate for their child in this extreme and sad circumstance.
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School founded by Blue Man Group labeled a disaster as some children can't even read
Parents are pulling their children from an 'progressive' school founded by the Blue Man Group in New York City because the school took the adage 'No more pencils, no more books' a little too far.
The $32,000-a-year school boasts of creating a 'healthy, warm, safe, nurturing environment,' but parents say the school - which has no books and no tests - has failed to teach their children how to read.
Teachers are also fleeing the Blue School, with eight calling it quits by the end of the year.
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School Woes: Parents are pulling their children from an 'progressive' school founded by the Blue Man Group in New York City because the school took the adage 'No more pencils, no more books' a little too far
'When a 6-year-old says they’re bored, there’s a problem,' one mother said to the New York Post . 'I think they bit off more than they can chew.'
Blue Man Group founders Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, and Chris Wink were inspired to found the school with their spouses after the success of their play group in 2006.
The lower Manhattan school, which teaches pre-kindergarten through third grade, got its independent charter in 2009.
'In building our program, we remove the kinds of educational practices that we believe are not working so well and amp up the "best practices" and innovations that we believe have great promise,' co-founder Matt Goldman writes on the school's website .
Numerous media publications have praised the program at the school, including profiles in CNN, TIME and the New York Times. Classes incorporate 'disco learning floors,' climbing walls, and glow tubes.
Tough: The $32,000-a-year school boasts of creating a 'healthy, warm, safe, nurturing environment,' but parents say the school - which has no books and no tests - has failed to teach their children how to read
The curriculum is based on the Lab School model, which integrates academics with creative problem-solving.
'It’s all fun and games until you realize your second-grader can’t read,' an angry parent wrote on Urbanbaby.com.
'It’s all fun and games until you realize your second-grader can’t read.' Parent
Five first-grade students are leaving at the end of the year, according to the New York Post, because of their apparent struggles with reading. 'They don’t push [reading] as much,' parent Marina Brolin said to the paper.
Earlier in the year, some parents complained to the administration that their children weren't prepared enough to take exams before heading to middle school. Third graders were given a private school admission practice exam, according to the New York Post.
'You’ve got to give kids some experience with testing,' admitted Don Grace, the interim head of school.
Class: Teachers are also fleeing the Blue School, with eight calling it quits by the end of the year
Founders: Blue Man Group founders Matt Goldman, Phil Stanton, and Chris Wink were inspired to found the school with their spouses after the success of their play group in 2006
In addition to the teachers that are leaving, the head of the school will be ousted in July. Allison Gaines Pell, the founder of the Urban Assembly Academy of Arts & Letters, will take the helm.
Mr Grace said that the school is looking closely at teacher attrition and will try to do better in the future. Officials also said that students decide their own curriculum and are not pressured by deadlines.
Study: The lower Manhattan school, which teaches pre-kindergarten through third grade, got its independent charter in 2009
However, some experts said that they weren't surprised by the results and parents should be patient with the school.
'Parents are understandably anxious about being patient if their child is developing at a slightly later time,' said Steve Nelson, head of the Calhoun School.
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Immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) or Berger's disease is the most common form of primary glomerulonephritis in the world and one of the first causes of end-stage renal failure. IgAN is characterized by the accumulation of immune complexes containing polymeric IgA1 in mesangial areas. The pathogenesis of this disease involves the deposition of polymeric and hypogalactosylated IgA1 (Gd-IgA1) in the mesangium. Quantitative and structural changes of Gd-IgA1 play a key role in the development of the disease due to functional abnormalities of two IgA receptors: the FcαRI (CD89) expressed by blood myeloid cells and the transferrin receptor (CD71) on mesangial cells. Abnormal Gd-IgA1 induces release of soluble CD89, which participates in the formation of circulating IgA1 complexes. These complexes are trapped by CD71 that is overexpressed on mesangial cells in IgAN patients together with the crosslinking enzyme transglutaminase 2 allowing pathogenic IgA complex formation in situ and mesangial cell activation. A humanized mouse model expressing IgA1 and CD89 develops IgAN in a similar manner as patients. In this model, a food antigen, the gliadin, was shown to be crucial for circulating IgA1 complex formation and deposition, which could be prevented by a gluten-free diet. Identification of these new partners opens new therapeutic prospects for IgAN treatment.
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Story highlights Paul Ryan explained that this personal view does not correlate with his public policy opinion
Ryan faced criticism from the left after he said he would not give up time with his children to become speaker
Washington (CNN) House Speaker Paul Ryan pushed back Sunday against calls to expand paid family leave despite his own desire for a work-family balance in his new job.
"I don't think that sticking up for being a person with balance in your life, for wanting to spend your weekends in your home with your family ... I don't think that means signing up for some new unfunded mandate," Ryan told CNN's Dana Bash on "State of the Union."
Ryan faced criticism from the left after he said he would not give up time with his children to become speaker. Some liberals even called his remarks hypocritical, citing his vote in 2009 against a proposal that would have given federal workers four weeks of paid parental leave.
"I cannot and will not give up my family time," Ryan said earlier this month as a condition of his candidacy for House speaker.
"Women in particular heard you talking like this and said, 'Wow he gets it, maybe he can do something about it,'" Bash said.
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The Senate Intelligence Committee is summoning Google executives to cooperate in the panel’s probe into Russian election interference and to testify in an open hearing.
The panel is examining Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 vote, especially through social media and web companies.
The news was first reported by Politico on Wednesday. Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how the company would respond to the request.
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Google is the latest tech company to be summoned in the probe.
Twitter and Facebook are already sharing information with the committee, and The Hill reported on Wednesday that the panel has sent an invitation for those companies to testify in an open hearing for its investigation, as well.
Officials have said they are concerned that Russian-tied groups could have manipulated Google’s algorithm to show certain results for voters looking for political news.
Facebook revealed earlier this month that the company had sold about 3,000 political ads to a Russian troll farm linked to the Kremlin. The company handed over the ads to special counsel Robert Mueller's team and were also slated to provide them to congressional investigators.
— Ali Breland contributed. Updated: 4:50 p.m.
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It's normal for us to delete our social media posts, but the rules for the US President are different.
US President Donald Trump has come under fire for deleting tweets in support of a Senate candidate that went on to lose.
Some experts are saying it's against the law.
We take a look at whether Mr Trump's actions could actually land him in trouble.
How did this debate begin?
Mr Trump openly backed former Alabama state attorney-general Luther Strange to win the Republican primary for the state of Alabama.
His tweets touted support for Mr Strange, who had filled the vacancy since Jeff Sessions was promoted to the role of Mr Trump's Attorney-General.
But Mr Strange lost.
Also lost were Mr Trump's tweets of support for Strange.
But it wasn't long before people starting trawling the internet to look for the tweets Mr Trump had wiped from his account.
So, is he allowed to delete tweets?
In the normal world, deleting posts on social media is pretty common.
But if you're the president of the United States, you technically fall under a law called the Presidential Records Act [PRA].
It was created by Congress in 1978 over concerns that former president Richard Nixon would destroy the tapes that led to his resignation.
The law stipulates that materials can include "books, correspondence, memoranda, documents, papers, pamphlets, works of art, models, pictures, photographs, plats, maps, films, and motion pictures, including, but not limited to, audio and visual records, or other electronic or mechanical recordations, whether in analog, digital, or any other form".
The rules were obviously created before social media existed.
But an update to the definition by former president Barack Obama made sure "digital" material, including email, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, was covered.
And "presidential records" are defined as those "created or received by the president, the president's immediate staff, or a unit or individual of the executive office of the president whose function is to advise or assist the president".
That means even if a staffer wrote or sent it, it's still classified as "presidential records".
The law also means that any tweets sent by the president are owned by the United States.
If a president wants to dispose of presidential records, he or she has to prove it has no "administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value".
They also need to obtain the views, in writing, of the archivist concerning the proposed disposal of such presidential records.
And the archivist has to state that they do not intend to take any action.
If they don't have a problem with the material being deleted, the president can dispose of presidential records if copies of the disposal schedule are "submitted to the appropriate Congressional Committees at least 60 calendar days of continuous session of Congress in advance of the proposed disposal date".
Which means you have to give at least two months' notice.
What could be the consequences?
Earlier this year in a piece for The Conversation, Shontavia Johnson, a professor of intellectual property law at Drake University, said there wasn't a law that could stop him from doing it.
"If a tweet is the catalyst for a lost ally, new policy or other reaction, American history deserves to have a record of it," Professor Johnson said.
"In the instance of Trump's deleted and altered tweets, it makes sense to require they be archived and preserved.
"But if Trump decides to dispose of them without taking such steps, there doesn't seem to be a federal law to stop him.
"To create a full digital picture of Trump's presidency, we may have to rely on the screenshots from private citizens or others."
While there are several screenshots of Mr Trump's deleted tweets, it's unknown whether any action will actually be taken against him.
"Courts can review whether any given piece of information should be categorised as a presidential record or not," Professor Johnson said.
"But, the president has control over 'creation, management, and disposal' decisions after that initial categorisation, assuming he or she has permission of the archivist.
"This cannot be reviewed by a court.
"And the PRA does not give the archivist or Congress veto power over a president's record-keeping decisions.
"In this way, the law creates a system that cannot be checked once the president makes a decision to create, manage or delete a given record."
Senior lecturer in American politics and foreign policy at the United States Studies Centre David Smith said Mr Trump's tweets were already part of the permanent internet record.
"My personal view is it's not that much of an issue … any of the President's tweets are going to be [public] whether he deletes them or not," Dr Smith said.
"There a separate account that sort of puts all his tweets into the format of presidential statements … when you go on Twitter there is no possibility that he can actually remove things from public memory."
And he said he didn't expect it to end up in court.
"Having said that I don't know about the legality of it if he actually destroys something he has written," Dr Smith said.
"In the current social media environment where a Trump tweet can drive news cycles, there's no possibility that Trump can actually erase that record.
"I very much doubt that any legal action would be taken against the President."
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The recent announcement by bitcoin developer Mike Hearn that he is resigning as a bitcoin core developer and, indeed, the bitcoin ecosystem in its entirety, has weighed on sentiment in the space. Once staunch bitcoin supporters are now thinking twice about their long term holdings, market price per coin is at its lowest levels in a long time, and those that remain at the cutting edge of the space from a technology standpoint are having to defend bitcoin from the more damaging aspects of Hearn’s essay.
There is, of course, a perfectly valid argument that this is all an overreaction. The bitcoin sphere is bigger than one man’s opinions, and the infrastructure put in place over the last half decade to support bitcoin and the blockchain is not likely to crumble overnight – that is, so long as the much debated technology issues iron-out.
Adoption is at an all time high, and while mainstream adoption (and I suppose even mainstream awareness) is taking a while longer than early adopters and current users hoped, it’s going in the right direction. Companies are still working to make it easier for individuals and businesses to transact using bitcoin, and it seems every other day a fresh development hits press.
One such example is WayForPay. If you’re not familiar with the company, it’s a payment processing company based in Ukraine. The company has streamlined the process of bitcoin payment integration to make it quick and easy for ecommerce websites to start accepting bitcoin for goods and services. The company kicked off its operations mid-2014, and has been an active advocate of bitcoin ever since. So why are we talking about WayForPay today?
Well, the company has just announced a fresh feature of its platform – the ability for bitcoiners to use their coins to buy food online. From a global perspective, this isn’t a new development, of course. Companies such as Takeaway.com have offered users the option to pay in bitcoin for a couple of years, but it is new in Ukraine. Eastern Europe has been instrumental in the furthering of bitcoin, and played host to a large number of the companies pushing the boundary of bitcoin and blockchain related applications since the beginning. As such, the ability of users in the region to now order takeaway with the digital currency they have championed so strongly is a great development.
So where can bitcoin users in Ukraine satiate themselves? Well, at present, two companies are using the WayForPay system to accept food related bitcoin payments. The first is Ekipazh Service, which is reportedly the biggest takeaway delivery service in the country.
Alongside the announcement, representatives of Ekipazh had this to say:
We strive to meet the high expectations of our customers, not only in terms of providing a wide selection of food and fast delivery, but also to introduce innovative ways of payment convenient online ordering. Together with our partners we WayForPay launching a new service – registration of orders using cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
The second is an online delivery company called EcoPizza. As yet, EcoPizza haven’t commented on their integration of the WayForPay platform.
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5 Films (And A TV Show)… A new series where we recommend films referenced, inspired, influenced or generally like a certain Woody Allen film, from his first to his latest. All picks are subjective – let the arguments begin!
The Purple Rose Of Cairo is the middle of a purple patch for Woody Allen. One of his acclaimed works in the 80s, he was bringing together his love of film, his European influences and his wit into something new.
It is one of his most quietly fantastic films – fantastic in the fantasy sense. A triubute to te escapist and healing powers of art, something other filmmakers have explored over the years.
Here’s 5 films and a TV show to watch after The Purple Rose Of Cairo.
Top Hat (1935)
Dir. Mark Sandrich
It ends The Purple Rose of Cairo, and it’s exactly the kind of big budget escapist films that Allen was nodding his cap to. A simple screwball comedy about a dancer (of course). It was Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers‘ biggest film and it still looks like a million bucks today.
Le Notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria, 1957)
Dir. Frederico Fellini
Allen was working his European influence into his films, and this film agains nods to street level Italian filmmaking. Cecilia’s plight and struggles feel a lot like Cabiria’s from Fellini’s Nights Of Cabriria. The two have a lot in common – both dream big and wish for a better life, one that will probably never come. This film earned Fellini his second Academy Award in a row.
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Dir. Giuseppe Tornatore
This is possibly cinema’s greatest love letter to cinema. It’s the story of a beaten down 1950s theatre in a poor village in Sicily and the young boy who learns all of life’s lessons in those walls, on and off screen. It was also a big success and an Academy Award winner.
Be Kind Rewind (2008)
Dir. Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry has never been shy of using fantastical elements in his films, and Be Kind Rewind uses that skill to explore the wonders of underground filmmaking. Two video store clerks must recreate 80s blockbusters after the contents of their video store is wiped. Gondry even cast Mia Farrow, once again playing a woman enamoured by the power of film.
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (2013)
Dir. Ben Stiller
Ben Stiller poured his all into this remake, bringing big modern spectacle to a little idea – a man who lives his life in an internal fantasy. That fantasy was a big screen epic, with gorgeous cinematography wrapping a touching story. It was Stiller’s most ambitious work, and of course no one saw it, so now we get crap like Zoolander 2. Sweet And Lowdown‘s Sean Penn plays a key role as Mitty’s hero.
Pushing Daisies (2007-2009)
Bryan Fuller is one of the most original voices on television, who nowadays does other people’s franchises’ bidding (Hannibal, Star Trek). But his wholly original Pushing Daisies was magical realism at it’s quirky best. It’s the story about a man with the ability to give dead people temporary life, it was a gumshoe fantasy of magical realism never seen before or since on TV.
Of course, it never rated and was cancelled too soon. Anna Friel was cast in You Will Make A Tall Dark Stranger shortly after the series ended.
Let us know your picks for The Purple Rose Of Cairo and if you agree with our picks. We are also looking for picks for Hannah And Her Sisters, which is the next film we will cover. Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter. Check out the full list of 5 Films (And A TV Show).
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Il Porcellino Salumi, the 6 month old cured meat emporium and eatery, was the site of an overnight robbery. The front door of the Berkeley business was shattered and an empty cash register was taken, according to owner Bill Miner.
"It's so lame, they took an empty cash register. [...] They could have taken thousands of dollars worth of cured meats, but that's not what they were after," Miner said, adding that he heard through the grapevine that neighboring Snarf's Sandwiches on 38th and Sheridan was hit earlier in the night.
There were no cameras inside Il Porcellino but a neighbor said to Miner that he saw three men breaking into the business.
UPDATE (9 a.m.): Snarf's was indeed part of the break-in. Nothing was taken from the 38th and Sheridan outpost. The side door was damaged and local police has since boarded up the door as a precaution until it can be replaced.
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Vitamin C and zinc play important roles in nutrition, immune defence and maintenance of health. Intake of both is often inadequate, even in affluent populations. The common cold continues to place a great burden on society in terms of suffering and economic loss. After an overview of the literature on the effects of the separate administration of either vitamin C or zinc against the common cold, this article presents data from two preliminary, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials, conducted with a combination of 1000 mg vitamin C plus 10 mg zinc in patients with the common cold. In both studies, a nonsignificant reduction of rhinorrhoea duration (range 9-27%) was seen. In pooled analyses of both studies (n=94), vitamin C plus zinc was significantly more efficient than placebo at reducing rhinorrhoea over 5 days of treatment. Furthermore, symptom relief was quicker and the product was well tolerated. In view of the burden associated with the common cold, supplementation with vitamin C plus zinc may represent an efficacious measure, with a good safety profile, against this infectious viral disease.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed the single-window National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test NEET ) dealing a body blow to uniform admission norms for MBBS, BDS and MD seats in all medical colleges and allowing private medical colleagues to frame their own admissions norms and charge, in many cases, stiff capitation fees.A three-Judge bench by two to one majority struck down the NEET as unconstitutional and ruled that the Medical Council of India (MCI) had no power to issue notifications in 2010 to regulate admissions to 271 medical colleges, 138 run by government and 133 under private management offering 31,000 MBBS and BDS as well as 11,000 MD seats.The NEET had been welcomed by students and parents because of transparency and the respite it offered from the ordeal that the aspiring doctors had to endure until last year when they had to file multiple applications and shuttle between cities across the country to take entrance tests medical colleges would hold with no co-ordination among them. It had also curbed the room for the promoters of several medical colleges to extort hefty capitation fees.Chief Justice Altamas Kabir , on his last day before retirement, and Justice Vikramjit Sen formed the majority to hold that the notification mandating NEET for all violated private medical colleges’ rights to carry on business guaranteed under Article 19(1)(g) and the constitutional guarantee under Article 30 to the minority community to set up and manage educational institutions.Justice A R Dave did not agree and, in a strong dissent, stressed that there was no proper discussion on the draft majority verdict which appeared to have been rushed because the CJI was to retire in a few days.Justices Kabir and Sen hat the MCI did not have power to force a single entrance test for controlling admissions to the medical colleges as it had been created only for the purpose of ensuring “excellence of medical education in India”.“We also have no hesitation in holding that the Medical Council of India is not empowered under the MCI Act, 1956 to actually conduct the NEET,” the CJI said articulating the majority view.Though the only edition of NEET, which was held this year, stands quashed, the admissions already made on its basis would not be affected by the judgment, the court clarified. The clarification was meaningless as far as admissions to the private medical colleges is concerned as these institutions had already taken exemption for this year from the purview of NEET.While it business as usual for the private medical colleges, the restoration of the old scheme for admission into medical colleges for the poor and meritorious stands. The All India Quota entrance examination offered them a hope to bag a seat in a medical college. Under this, the states would contribute 50% of the seats to be decided for allocation to students who clear the single entrance test.The majority judgment on Thursday took away what was actually given four years ago by another bench of Justice R V Raveendran (since retired) and Justice A K Patnaik after long deliberations during which it had focused on the benefit of single-window entrance test for all medical colleges.In 2010, the bench of Justices Raveendran and Patnaik had strived to bring together the MCI and CBSE on the same page for conducting NEET. The bench was convinced that a single entrance test would save poor and meritorious students , by sparing them the physical and financial stress of having of travel from one city to another to appear in multiple entrance tests in the hope of bagging a MBBS, BDS or MD seat in a college.What Justices Raveendran and Patnaik had expressed in 2010 found reflection in Justice Dave’s dissent. In differing with the views of Justices Kabir and Sen, he appeared to rely on the old proverb “justice hurried is justice buried”.Against a 173-page judgment by the CJI, Justice Dave penned a 35-page dissent and said: “As the Chief Justice is to retire within a few days, I have to be quick and therefore, also short. Prior to preparation of our draft judgments we had no discussion on the subject due to paucity of time and therefore, I have to express my different views…”Justice Dave said: “it cannot be said that introduction of the NEET would either violate any of the fundamental or legal rights of the petitioners or even adversely affect the medical profession. In my opinion, introduction of the NEET would ensure more transparency and less hardship to the students eager to join the medical profession.”“Let us see the consequences, if the apex bodies of medical profession are not permitted to conduct NEET. A student, who is good at studies and is keen to join the medical profession, will have to visit several different states to appear at different examination held by different medical colleges or institutes so as to ensure that he gets admission somewhere,” he said.On the other hand, “The NEET will facilitate all students desirous of joining the medical profession because the students will have to appear only at one examination and on the basis of the results of the NEET, if he is found suitable, he would be in a position to get admission somewhere in the country and he can have the medical education if he is inclined to go to a different place.”Quoting MCI counsel Nidesh Gupta, Justice Dave said he had informed that some medical colleges, who are more in profiteering business rather than in the noble work of imparting medical education, take huge amount by way of donation or capitation fees and give admission to undeserving or weak students under one pretext or the other.Justice Dave said: “if only one examination in the country is conducted and admissions are given on the basis of the result of the said examination, in my opinion, unscrupulous and money minded businessmen operating in the field of education would be constrained to stop their corrupt practices and it would help a lot, not only to the deserving students but also to the nation in bringing down level of corruption.”
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The test is a gift from Yamaha as a reward for the British rider's part in delivering Yamaha its second successive Suzuka 8 Hours victory last month.
Lowes, who rides for the Crescent-run Yamaha squad in World Superbikes, took the win in the Japanese endurance classic together with Pol Espargaro and Katsuyuki Nakasuga, riding a factory-run YZF-R1.
"I‘m really looking forward to Monday‘s test on the YZR-M1," said Lowes. I‘m very thankful to Yamaha for providing me the opportunity, and to [team boss] Herve Poncharal and the Monster Yamaha Tech3 team for making it possible.
"Brno is a fantastic circuit and it will be good to work with Pol again. It‘s been a good month already with the Suzuka victory and a really positive test this week on the World Superbike.
"Yamaha giving me the chance to try one of the best MotoGP bikes in the world will be a great experience for me as a rider."
Former British Superbike champion Lowes, the younger brother of 2017 Aprilia MotoGP rider Sam, will continue next season with the Yamaha WSBK team.
His teammate is widely expected to be Michael van der Mark - who in turn has been replaced by MotoGP refugee Stefan Bradl at Honda Ten Kate.
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There’s nothing particularly novel in uncovering a freaky sexual fetish on the internet. Everybody knows that we’re only ever a click away from watching eccentric humans suck custard out of tights or have sex dressed as unicorns.
At first glance Tickled, a new Oscar-tipped documentary resembles one of those sexual freakumentaries that occasionally pop up on Channel 4.
It’s much, much weirder than that. David Farrier, a Kiwi TV reporter, happens on a site featuring hours of videos wherein a young man is strapped down and tickled by other young men, all dressed in matching Adidas sports-gear.
This activity is dubiously described as a sport - competitive endurance tickling - although tellingly, it doesn’t feature in Rio this summer, and they’ve got handball.
Farrier’s discovery might have been fodder for a 4Chan meme. But from the moment he attempts to contact Jane O’Brien Media, the production company behind the videos, he is met with a barrage of homophobic slurs and legal threats.
Interest piqued, he and his co-director set out to discover just what on earth is going on. We’ll say no more. But the viewer can look forward to a twenty-year history that involves a mysterious heir to a fortune, the White House, the FBI and victims plucked from the MMA circuit.
The mood of the film and investigation shifts from light to menacing but Farrier’s New Zealand brand of cool doubles as a kind of superpower, as he cheerfully sneaks around secret location shoots.
There are important lessons to be learned here, like don’t trust people offering free hotels and money on the internet.
More meaningfully, Tickled offers an anatomy of intimidation that feels particularly relevant for our post-Gamergate times.
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The former head of the Russian Anti-Doping Agency has revealed his part in an astonishing state-run doping programme before and during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, which included supplying banned performance-enhancing substances to at least 15 medal winners and substituting tainted urine samples with clean ones during the Games so that they passed doping tests. The International Olympic Committee described the accusations as “very worrying” and called for them to be investigated immediately by the World Anti-Doping Agency .
French financial prosecutors confirm investigation into Tokyo 2020 bid Read more
Dr Grigory Rodchenkov, the director of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory from 2005-15, claimed he helped dozens of Russian athletes with a cocktail of banned substances including metenolone, trenbolone and oxandrolone which he mixed with alcohol. To improve the absorption of the steroids and shorten the detection window, he dissolved the drugs in Chivas whisky for male athletes and Martini vermouth for women.
Among those Rodchenkov claimed to have helped cheat were the bobsleigher Alexander Zubkov, who won two golds in Sochi; the cross-country skier Alexander Legkov, who won gold and silver; and Alexander Tretiakov, who won gold in the skeleton competition. Rodchenkov also claimed the women’s ice hockey team, who were knocked out in the quarter-finals, were doping throughout the Games. Legkov and Zubkov described the claims as “nonsense and slanderous”, Russia’s Match TV reported.
“We were fully equipped, knowledgable, experienced and perfectly prepared for Sochi like never before,” admitted Rodchenkov. “It was working like a Swiss watch.”
Among a series of extraordinary claims that were published in the New York Times, Rodchenkov said Russian anti-doping experts and members of the FSB, the Russian intelligence service, secretly replaced urine samples containing banned substances of medal winners with clean urine. To do this they set up a shadow laboratory in Sochi, having found a way to break into supposedly tamper-proof bottles.
Rodchenkov said that several weeks before Sochi, an FSB agent gave him a previously sealed bottle that had been opened, its uniquely numbered cap intact. “When I first time saw that bottle is open, I did not believe my eyes,” he said, adding: “I truly believed this was tamper-proof.”
In a development that could have come out of the pages of a John le Carré novel, the Russians set up a secret shadow laboratory – room 124 – at the official drug-testing site. During the night, when no one else was around, tainted samples from Russian athletes would be passed through a small hole in the floor to this shadow laboratory, where they were replaced with clean urine from athletes collected months earlier. The elaborate procedure allowed Russian athletes to continue taking banned substances during the Games, given them an advantage over their rivals.
The Russians topped the medal table in Sochi with 33 medals, including 13 golds, a stark improvement on the previous Winter Olympics in Vancouver where they finished only 11th with 15 medals. None of their athletes were caught doping in Sochi. However Rodchenkov said that as many as 100 dirty urine samples were expunged during the Games.
“People are celebrating Olympic champion winners but we are sitting crazy and replacing their urine,” Rodchenkov said. “Can you imagine how Olympic sport is organised?”
Kenya’s Olympic participation in doubt after Wada recommendation Read more
Rodchenkov has been collaborating with the American film-maker Bryan Fogel, who is working on a documentary about doping in international sport which is due to be released in September. He told Fogel the Russian sports ministry was actively involved in the giving its athletes performance-enhancing drugs – and hiding the consequences – and that he met with the deputy sports minister, Yuri Nagornykh, at least once a week.
However Russia’s sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, was scornful of the allegations, calling them “a continuation of the information attack on Russian sport”. He told the agency Tass: “The system of organisation of the Olympic Games was completely transparent. Everything was under the control of international experts, from the collection of samples to their analysis.”
Last November Rodchenkov was named as a key figure in a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation that detailed the extensive state-sponsored doping in Russia. A report, written by an Independent Commission led by Dick Pound, found that Rodchenkov, was required to meet a security officer from the FSB weekly to update him on the mood of Wada.
Pound also claimed that Rodchenkov was an integral part of the conspiracy to extort money from athletes in order to cover up positive results – an allegation he denies. However he now admits that he was a key part of what Wada called “the intentional and malicious destruction” of 1,417 samples to deny evidence for the inquiry. In fact, according to New York Times, he now admits to destroying “thousands” of samples.
After the Independent Commission report came out, Rodchenkov claimed that Russian officials forced him to resign. Fearing for his safety he then moved to Los Angeles. Two of Rodchenkov’s former colleagues unexpectedly died in February.
Rodchenkov’s comments came as Wada’s board met to discuss the developments in Russia’s anti-doping programme since the country was suspended from track and field and its anti-doping laboratory closed at the end of last year. Next month the IAAF, track and field’s governing body, will decide whether allow Russian athletes to complete at the Rio Olympics in August.
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The bad guys are by this point clearly identified with the establishment and, specifically, with policing sexual identity and norms. Moreover, those bad-guy establishment figures are every bit as weird as the weirdos they want to police; as just one iconic example, the conspirators beneath the Pentagon dye their pubic hair green. Marginality and normality, chaos and order, are shown as arbitrary distinctions. All of which raises the question, why is the Doom Patrol fighting "bad guys" anyway?
This question occurs to the Doom Patrol as well. After beating back the Pentagon threat, the Brotherhood of Dada return—and when their leader, Mr. Nobody, runs for president while dispensing psychedelic hallucinations far and wide from a magic bus, Crazy Jane refuses to try to stop him on the grounds that she likes him and thinks he'd be as good a president as anybody else. "See what Mr. Nobody is doing is forcing people to think in new ways. We can't allow that," some faceless military jerk opines. The supervillains are the good guys, the superheroes are on their side, and both are menaced by the fascist forces of order on whose behalf superheroes are traditionally supposed to be fighting the good fight.
DC
Morrison doesn't exactly take a doctrinaire stand against doctrinaire stands either, though. In the final arc of the series, the Chief is revealed as the ultimate supervillain, who plans to use nanorobots to create a worldwide catastrophe in an effort to get everyone to evolve to the next (presumably weirder) level. He tells Cliff that his earlier experiments led him to arrange the car crash that destroyed Cliff's body, turning him from a self-centered, misogynist blowhard into an empathetic hero. "If you'd met me before my accident, I wouldn't have given you a second glance," Cliff tells Jane; his own trauma has made him identify with the marginalized and with those who need help.
But, importantly, the Chief's actions aren't condoned. Using others in a grand plot to replace the Man just changes the iron corrupt rule of the law-giving Pentagon with the iron corrupt rule of the chaotic nanomachine. Either way, somebody else makes you suffer at their arbitrary whim. The new supervillain is the same as the old superhero, or vice versa.
Doom Patrol doesn't offer a revolutionary political program, then, nor even a straightforward critique of law-and-order superhero fascism as, arguably, Watchmen tried to do a couple of years earlier. Instead, if Doom Patrol subverts most superhero stories, it's through a deliberate, elaborate goofiness. Danny the transvestite street is the least of it; the comic teams with oddity and parody. The Beard Hunter, a Punisher-like figure wages a lonely war against facial hair; the Quiz is a supervillain that has every super power you haven't thought of; Rebis spends an entire issue having sex with hirself (which seems to be Rebis's preferred pronoun); the blue-skinned Sex Men (named Cuddle, Kiss, and Torture) show up to put a stop to outré erotics; the men from N.O.W.H.E.R.E. speak entirely in acrostics; and Flex Mentallo uses his power of muscle mystery to turn the Pentagon into a circle.
DC
This is all meant to be very meta. In one arc, the Doom Patrol is able to stop an imaginary world from taking over the real world when the team finds a black book that tells the story of a black book about an imaginary world taking over the real world. The painting that ate Paris is recursive; it's a painting of a painting of a painting, embedded, of course, in a comic book (showing the image of a painting). The final battle in the comic is against a monster called the Candlemaker, who keeps saying things like, "This world is only one of many, none of them real. I make them all." He's all-powerful in part, it seems, because he knows he's in a comic.
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Shankkar Aiyar By
Social media is a veritable greenhouse for and of ideas born out of public sentiments. The flavour of the week is boycott of goods made in China. The anger is inescapable—driven by China repeatedly vetoing India’s efforts to designate Masood Azhar a terrorist. The messaging varies from the emotional call to Indian blood to prove itself to clever caricatures. The favoured medium is WhatsApp—one popular post warns Indians not to buy Chinese crackers as they will emit fumes that kill.
The call for the boycott of Chinese goods has the romance of the Mahatma’s campaign to burn foreign garments during British rule and seemingly the facility of choice. It has captured the minds of the masses, many ministers and Members of Parliament. So how has the call panned out? There is traction in words. Has it impacted consumer choice and consumption? The answer depends on who is telling the story. Anecdotal narrative is stranded between stories of boycott-led slowdown in sales and upsurge of online sales during the October Fest.
The jury is out on if—and how much—Chinese exports will be hit. What is clear though is that traders who already paid for and imported goods will be hit first by the boycott. The moot point is whether the boycott will engender a material change in attitude in Beijing. India is part of a globalised inter-dependent economy. Anger and sentiments are but signals, not instruments of state craft. The imperative to secure India demands a sound strategy.
To appreciate the magnitude of the quest, one must look at the footprint of China in India’s economy. One way is to look at the screen shot of the medium and the messaging—the messages are keyed in and viewed on phones/tabs/pads/laptops/desktops, which are wholly made in China or are powered by components produced in China. The bytes are travelling via networks possibly powered by Chinese electronics and the connectivity itself may be via a China-made SIM card or a router made by ZTE or Huawei. Sure, the backlit medium could be from Korea or Japan, but it is worth remembering that between them, Japan and Korea import electronics worth over $70 billion from China.
A more holistic view is provided by data from the Director General of Foreign Trade. In 2015-16, China imported goods worth $9 billion, and India worth $61 billion. India imports more from China than any other country and more than its imports from the next three—the US, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Of course $61 billion is a lot of money, but to get a real assessment of what might make China pay attention, consider the size of its export cake. In 2015, China exported goods worth $2.15 trillion (roughly the size of India’s GDP). India accounts for less than 3 per cent of export earnings for China.
And what does India import from China? Not just toys or crackers or phones. Its top five imports are: Electronics and electricals worth $19.7 billion, nuclear reactors and machinery worth $10.5 billion, organic chemicals worth $6 billion, fertilisers worth $3.2 billion and iron and steel worth $2.3 billion. The top 10 imports account for over $48 billion. Yes, the imports are a tad lower this year, but the dependence is unmistakable. By the way, firecrackers/explosives and combustibles account for just about a fifth of a million dollars.
The question is can India interrupt its nuclear programme and power projects—or disrupt its manufacturing base? Electronic and electricals imports form part of the supply chain—value addition creates jobs. Organic chemicals are again necessary inputs and import of fertilisers is critical to food security. The import of iron and steel is vital for automobile manufacturing and exports. If WhatsApp wishes were horses, China could abide. Unsurprisingly, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has dubbed ban on Chinese imports “not feasible”. Clearly India’s response to sentiments will have to be pragmatic. This is not an argument against or a judgement on the expression of anger— far from it. The point is expression of anger must be made to matter.
India and China were similarly placed in terms of per capita income in the early Nineties—both liberalised the economy around the same time. In 2000, this columnist had written (http://bit.ly/2dDWNSl) that the surge of imports delighted consumers, left industry in panic and the government confused. China entered WTO in 2001, overtook Japan as Asia’s top exporter by 2004, and surpassed US in 2007 and Germany in 2009 to emerge as the world’s top exporter. India’s share of merchandise trade in 1993 was 0.6 per cent while that of China was 2.1 per cent. By 2015 India’s share grew to 1.7 per cent while that of China to 14.2 per cent. China did what was necessary, India did not.
The anger and calls for a ban must give way to a campaign for substitution. India needs to usher in a strategic replacement programme—go beyond the idea of Make in India. India sources components and machinery for nuclear reactors and boilers worth $21 billion from China, the US, Germany, Japan and Korea—half of it from China. The primary question is: must it import and must it from China? Yes, fertilisers are critical. Why not play cupid between gas-rich Gabon and phosphate-rich Morocco to source it from Africa? Again why not make in India?
The import bill of electronics and electrical equipment is worth over $35 billion—again, over half from China. A big reason is pricing—for producers and consumers. The success of the LED bulbs initiative—where price was brought down from over `300 to `38 in two years—could provide some answers. But questions need to be asked. Why is India importing furniture and mattresses worth nearly a billion dollars from China? Or ceramics, glassware, toys, knitted fabrics, toys etc. worth $2 billion? There is no escaping the fact that India needs to open up, incentivise technology induction, and alter procurement, taxation and a host of policies to be competitive.
Moolah power is a reality. China’s geopolitical status stems from its economic might. India must strive to match it—align economic security with national security—if it is serious about its stature.
shankkar.aiyar@gmail.com
Shankkar Aiyar is the Author of Accidental India: A History of the Nation’s Passage through Crisis and Change
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The use of drones as a low-cost replacement for traditional helicopters is on the rise in today’s mining industry. Mining companies are seeing benefits from the use of drones from safety and security to exploration and development.1 On June 28, 2016, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced a final rule governing the use of drones for commercial purposes. The final rule becomes effective on August 29, 2016.
This article outlines the anticipated obligations of drone pilots under the final rule and its practical impact on the use of drones at mining operations nationwide.
The final rule will relax previous regulations, which were similar to those of a manned aircraft, and provide for a waiver option if a drone operator demonstrates the ability to fly a drone safely.
Application of the final rule pertains to small drones (55 pounds or less) used for non-recreational purposes.2 According to the FAA, the final rule aims to limit two sources of risk related to the use of drones: drones colliding with other flying objects and drones falling and injuring people or property on the ground. The final rule also requires drone pilots to be licensed by the FAA.
Operational Limitations: Collision Hazards
To minimize the risk of a drone colliding with another flying object, the FAA has placed limits on where and when drones can fly. The pilot operating the drone must keep the drone within his line of sight at all times.3 The pilot cannot control the drone from a moving vehicle unless the drone is being operated over a sparsely populated area.4 The FAA did not define “sparsely populated” in the final rule stating that a case-by-case analysis is appropriate in determining what defines a sparsely populated area. However, the FAA did point to other regulations, which conclude that twenty people on a 10-acre site is considered sparsely populated.5
The final rule limits the operation of a drone to daylight hours, or within 30 minutes of sunrise or sunset if the drone uses anti-collision lighting that is visible for at least 3 miles.6 When clouds are present, drones must stay at least 500 feet below the clouds and at least 2,000 feet horizontally from a cloud to avoid colliding with any manned aircraft that may be concealed inside the cloud.7 Given that drones can only be flown up to 400 feet above ground (far below where most clouds form) the 500 foot buffer rule will primarily impact drone operators who use drones in a mountainous or high-altitude environment or who operate in areas prone to fog.
In order to minimize the risk of drones colliding with manned aircraft or other flying objects, the final rule limits drones to flight 400 feet above ground or 400 feet above a structure.8 Most manned aircraft fly at a minimum of 500 feet above ground or 500 feet above structures so the final rule is intended to minimize the amount of overlap between drones and manned aircraft.9
The final rule also limits drone flights to 100 miles per hour to give drone operators time to correct their flight path to avoid collision with other flying objects and to minimize the risk to people and structures below if the drone fails mid-flight.10
Operational Limitations: Falling Hazards
A significant limitation on drone use in mining operations is the prohibition on flying the drone over any people who are not directly participating in the drone operation unless they are inside a building or a stationary vehicle.11 The purpose of the final rule is to require people to be shielded by some structure that could mitigate the harm of a collision if the drone encounters mechanical difficulties mid-flight and falls. In practice, it will be up to the drone pilot to determine an appropriate stand-off distance to keep people out of the drone’s flight path. As with most portions of the final rule, waivers are available if the drone operator can demonstrate he can safely operate the drone outside of the parameters of the final rule.
Additionally, the final rule limits drones (including any cargo or attachments) to a total of 55 pounds. Drones may be used to carry cargo or surveillance equipment, as long as it is securely attached to the drone. This portion of the final rule may be potentially problematic to mine operators and contractors as drone use increases for stockpile monitoring, mapping, and safety and surveillance. Transportation of hazardous materials by drones is also prohibited at all times.12
Airspace Requirements
Most mine operators and contractors who stay within the 400 foot flight ceiling and are at least 5 miles away from airports will be operating in unregulated, or Class G, airspace. Drones can fly in unregulated airspace without advance notice.13 If a mining operation is near an airport it may be operating in a regulated class of airspace depending on the size and classification of the airport. Drones flying in regulated airspace or within the boundaries of an airport must receive prior approval from air traffic control to operate.14 Drone operators can seek a waiver from this requirement from the FAA.
In addition, mining operations located near military training areas should consult with local authorities about restricted flight areas. Some remote airspace is designated as a military training route or a military operation area that may involve high-risk flights and weapons testing. Flights near these areas may be restricted or require advance notice.
Accident Reporting
The final rule requires a reporting of drone accidents that result in any injury that requires hospitalization, loss of consciousness, or property damage (other than damage to the drone itself) that is expected to cost more than $500.00 to repair.16 These reports must be made to the FAA within 10 days of the accident. Mine operators are reminded that mine-related accidents need to be reported to MSHA in accordance with what MSHA considers an accident as defined in 30 C.F.R. Section 50.2(h) as well as the reporting requirements found in 30 C.F.R. Section 50.10. Thus, in the event of a drone-related accident (which meets the definition of accident pursuant to MSHA’s definition), mine operators will need to report to MSHA as well.
Operator License Requirements
The FAA’s final rule requires the person operating the drone to hold a remote pilot certificate or be under the supervision of someone with a remote pilot certificate. Drone pilots must be at least 16 years old, pass a background check by the TSA, and pass an aeronautical knowledge test.17 Remote pilots will have to pass a recurrent knowledge test every two years to keep their license current.18 Applicants for a remote pilot license who do not already hold some type of pilot license will have to take the test at an FAA-approved testing center.19 The certification process, including the background check, is expected to take 6-8 weeks and cost $150.00.20
Remote pilots will also be required to learn about the different classes of airspace; weather patterns and its effect on small aircraft; the weight, balance, and load of a small aircraft; emergency procedures; radio communication protocols; and regulations governing operations near airports.21
The final rule also requires the drone pilot to be responsible for inspecting the drone prior to flight to ensure that it can fly safely.22 For mine operators utilizing drones on the surface, it is anticipated the drone operator would also be expected to comply with MSHA regulations related to pre-operational checks on mobile equipment. The final rule also requires drone pilots to assess weather conditions, local airspace restrictions, and the location of people who may be in his flight path before takeoff.23 The remote pilot is responsible for ensuring that the drone does not pose a risk to people or property if the pilot loses remote control of the drone. In any case, a remote pilot should be familiar with the area he or she is flying over and have contingency plans in place in case the drone malfunctions.
The FAA’s alcohol and drug prohibitions for airplane pilots apply to drone pilots as well—the drone pilot is not permitted to have consumed alcohol within 8 hours of flying.25 Finally, the possession or use of drugs is prohibited at all times.
Waivers
Most of the final rules can be waived with the FAA’s permission if a drone operator can demonstrate that flying a drone without observing a particular rule will not pose a safety risk.26 The FAA has granted exemptions in the past to some mine operators under the former rule recognizing that using a drone to conduct surveillance of a mining site poses less of a hazard than using a manned aircraft. It is important to keep in mind, however, that the FAA’s waiving of its regulations does not preclude MSHA from enforcing its regulations related to things such as accident reporting and pre-operational checks on mobile equipment.
Waiver applications should include a description of how the mine operator plans to ensure that the proposed operation can be conducted safely outside of the FAA’s regulations.27 The FAA listed some possible mitigation measures that lay out how this could be accomplished.
Grandfathering of Existing Section 333 Exemption Holders
Mine operators who have already secured a section 333 exemption may continue operating under the terms of their exemption until it expires.28 They also have the choice of operating under the new regulations as soon as those become effective.29
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One of News Corp.'s harshest critics warned that investors in the media conglomerate and analysts that follow the company need to take the ethics scandal at the company more seriously.
"This isn’t just about phone hacking," said Parliament member Tom Watson. "This company is facing criminal charges for bribing police officers, and potentially their executives will be charged with perjury."
Watson, a key member of Parliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee, which has been leading the investigation into phone hacking at News Corp.'s now-defunct News of the World tabloid, has come to Los Angeles to attend News Corp.'s annual meeting Friday and hopes to confront News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch about how he manages the company.
News Corp. is run "like a dysfunctional family firm," Watson, a member of the United Kingdom's Labor Party, said, adding that Rupert Murdoch is at his "Rosebud moment," a reference to the classic film "Citizen Kane" about a power-hungry media mogul.
Watson received shares in News Corp. from the AFL-CIO so he could attend the meeting and attempt to address Murdoch and investors.
"The board has failed to protect the interest of shareholders," Watson said, adding he wants to "make sure investors are in no doubt about what went on."
The Parliament member also warned that there will be more hearings involving James Murdoch, the youngest son of Rupert Murdoch who had oversight over News International, the unit that housed News of the World.
"I think that we will be on this case for at least a year’s time," he said.
The United States is also keeping an eye on the investigations and may have to determine at some point if News Corp. violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Asked if it was unusual for a British lawmaker to go to such extremes, he said he felt it was his duty and that he hopes that News Corp. stands up for free speech and gives a shareholder "two minutes to make a point."
— Joe Flint
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Photo: Tom Watson, center, a member of Paliament's Culture, Media and Sport Committee, speaks during one of the panel's sessions on Sept. 6, 2011. Credit: Reuters TV.
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Middle-aged male virgins have become so prevalent in Japan that a specific term – “yaramiso” – has slipped into popular usage to refer to them.
As many as one in four unmarried Japanese men aged 30 and over were virgins, according to the latest statistics compiled in 2010 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
Now a growing number of tailor-made activities have sprung up to cater for the sexually uninitiated.
Virgin Academia, set up by the non-profit organisation White Hands, offers lectures focusing on how to establish healthy relationships, as well as activities such as nude life drawing classes.
Among the “virgin” students at a recent art class was Takashi Sakai, 41, a heterosexual male who with his respectable job and charming smile appeared to be a far cry from the stereotypes of social misfits.
“I’ve never had a girlfriend,” he told AFP. “It’s never happened. It’s not like I’m not interested. I admire women. But I just cannot get on the right track.”
Mr Sakai is clearly not alone. As many as one in four unmarried Japanese men aged 30 and above were virgins, according to the latest statistics compiled in 2010 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research.
The issue of men not having sex is the tip of the demographic iceberg in Japan, home to a population that is famously shrinking and ageing at a rapid rate due to a decline in marriage and birth rates.
The classes are designed to make men more relaxed around women (AFP)
At first sight, the lack of sexual activity among a growing number of male Japanese may appear at odds with a society saturated with sexual images, from television and manga comics to city billboards.
However, a string of deep-seated social issues appear to have fuelled the rise of the male virgin in recent decades, according to experts.
A shift in traditional family structures, the rise in single person households and the loss of the "salaryman" security enjoyed by older generations of male workers have all left their mark on the self-esteem of the Japanese male.
The rise of virginity rates can also be tied to Japan’s protracted economic slowdown as a global powerhouse, resulting in the financial emasculation of many men struggling to hold down secure, full-time jobs, according to Yoko Itamoto, a matchmaking expert.
Sketching naked women is also claimed to help men gain a better understanding of the female body (AFP)
“Many men seem to have lost confidence as they’ve lost their economic muscle,” she said. “In the past two decades, the situation for Japanese men has been very tough and competitive.”
For Mr Sakai, the rise of organisations such as Virgin Academia that cater specifically for Japanese men who are not having sex is clearly welcome insofar as it makes him realise he is not alone.
Describing his pleasure at being able to take part in life classes where he can sketch naked women in order to gain a better understanding of the female body, he said: “The first time I did this, in autumn last year, oh . . . I was so amazed. Their bodies are incredibly beautiful.”
He added: “There is no need to be so pessimistic. After all, being a virgin isn’t fatal.”
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Sep. 4, 2014, 6:54 PM GMT By Scott Stump
The IT manager at Ikea revealed in a recent interview that 75 percent of the product images in its catalog feature computer-generated images. Today
If you're trying to make your home look like it came right out of an Ikea catalog, there's a reason it seems impossible. It's because most of the images in the catalog are computer-manipulated.
In an interview with the Computer Graphics Society, Ikea's IT manager, Martin Enthed, revealed that three-quarters of the photography in an IKEA catalog includes computer-generated images. Since 2006, the Swedish furniture company has been using 3-D modeling to look products look perfect in the catalog with just the right amount of light and shading.
"There was no vision initially to create entire rooms in CGI, like we do now,'' Enthed told CGS. "We just wanted to create the individual pieces — the ones you see on white backgrounds on the Web.”
When the CGI images started in the 2006 catalog with a wooden chair called "Bertil," it was because Ikea wanted it to look as authentic as possible.
Kitchens are the hardest rooms to render in CGI, according to Ikea IT manager Martin Enthed. Today
“We understand how important the knowledge of home furnishing is,'' Enthed said. "How homes look, how homes feel, and so on. The experienced photographers at Ikea have been working with the interior designers on re-creating this feel for 15 to 20 years, some of them. We needed to translate that knowledge over to the 3-D artists, who were tech-savvy, but in some cases coming directly from school. We needed them to understand the kind of feel we wanted the images to convey. It was very hard at the beginning.”
By the 2010 catalog, the 3-D artists had moved from rendering CGI of individual products to entire rooms, and developments in photographic technology made it easier to transfer the images to 3-D. The company now has a database of 25,000 computer-generated images of products.
That perfect-looking bedroom in the Ikea catalog might be too good to be true. Today
"The most expensive and complicated things we have to create and shoot are kitchens,'' Enthed said. "From both an environmental and time point of view, we don’t want to have to ship in all those white goods from everywhere, shoot them and then ship them all back again. And unfortunately, kitchens are one of those rooms that differ very much depending on where you are in the world. A kitchen in the U.S. will look very different to a kitchen in Japan, for example, or in Germany."
Follow TODAY.com writer Scott Stump on Twitter and Google+.
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The New York Times has reacted with predictable umbrage to any suggestion that the media deluge on the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases had anything to do with the murder of the two policemen in Brooklyn.
Mr. [Bill] de Blasio and Police Commissioner William Bratton, who stood together on Monday afternoon, tried their best to respond to rage with reason. Mr. Bratton had chosen his words poorly earlier in the day, in a morning TV interview, saying that “the targeting of these two police officers was a direct spinoff of this issue of these demonstrations.” He should have made clear that the only one responsible for the killings is the killer, Ismaaiyl Brinsley. Mr. Bratton’s 35,000 officers, in whom Mr. Lynch has been trying mightily to stoke a sense of grievance and victimhood, need to hear from him that this administration fully supports the police, and that gestures of contempt — like turning their backs on the mayor — are out of place. [my emphasis]
It’s a strange argument, especially coming from the certifiably left — that Mr. Brinsley acted in a complete vacuum, that his cultural surroundings played no role. It didn’t matter that there were protest marches chanting “What do we want? Dead cops!” (ignored by Al Sharpton). It didn’t matter that all the statements and actions by Obama, Holder, and de Blasio supported the protesters and blamed the police for the “climate of distrust” in Black communities.
In general, the left loves arguments that culture is important. They have no problem attributing the behavior of police officers killing Blacks, the performance of Black schoolchildren, Black criminality and every other pathology to a poisonous racism that pervades White society. Discussion of genetic influences are off limits, and unfortunately there are no cultural/environmental cures for low IQ. Black children are therefore not responsible for academic failure and we have to be understanding about the levels of criminality among Blacks.
And when Jared Loughner shot Rep. Gabrielle Giffors in 2011, the media immediately lined Loughner to a “climate of hate,” including an attempt to link Jared Taylor to Loughner. Culture matters, and, whereas the links between Loughner and AmRen or even Sarah Palin and the Tea Party proved illusory, Brinsley’s actions occurred in a context where the narrative that White racism is the cause of all the problems of underclass Blacks was being spewed from the the most elite media and political figures.
The left has always seen control of the culture as a critical goal because they are well aware that attitudes and behavior are indeed influenced by culture. Purging media figures who stray away from political correctness is high on their list of priorities, from Pat Buchanan getting fired at MSNBC to eliminating voices critical of Israel or Jewish power — people like Rick Sanchez, Helen Thomas, and M. J. Rosenberg. They have left no stone unturned in ferreting out dissent on racial issues and on whether a non-White America is a good thing for Whites. Dissenting views on race are banned from the mainstream media because the left correctly fears that exposure would grant legitimacy, and Whites would gravitate to attitudes that are in line with their interests rather than the interests of the hostile elites who run the media. They avoid any hint that intelligent, well-spoken people oppose immigration and White dispossession in favor of the putting out the image that such Whites are uneducated and morally defective.
Their belief in the power of culture explains why the school curriculum from kindergarten through the university is all about inculcating White guilt — the culture of the holocaust and tendentious readings of the American past. The culture of the left looks with great approval on the zombie, self-hating social activists that emerge from this indoctrination, eager to carry out the wisdom of their college professors and cleanse themselves of White guilt.
Culture is important. Obviously, it’s not the only influence on behavior, as hundreds of behavior genetic studies show. But media—all media—has the potential to affect the attitudes and behavior of its audience. That’s why we at TOO keep plugging away despite the intensive policing process whereby our ideas are kept from possibly coming into contact with the vast audiences of the mainstream media. Liberal media figure Jonathan Chait notes that
the world of popular culture increasingly reflects a shared reality in which the Republican Party is either absent or anathema. … When Joe Biden endorsed gay marriage in May, he cited [the television show] Will & Grace as the single-most important driving force in transforming public opinion on the subject. In so doing he actually confirmed the long-standing fear of conservatives—that a coterie of Hollywood elites had undertaken an invidious and utterly successful propaganda campaign, and had transmuted the cultural majority into a minority. Set aside the substance of the matter and consider the process of it—that is, think of it from the conservative point of view, if you don’t happen to be one. Imagine that large chunks of your entertainment mocked your values and even transformed once-uncontroversial beliefs of yours into a kind of bigotry that might be greeted with revulsion.
You’d probably be angry, too. (“The vast left-wing conspiracy is on your screen”)
Chait summarizes a number of studies showing the influence of the media (my comment here). But now, when a Black thug acts out on all the hatred he was doubtless drinking in on TV, suddenly the wider context of his actions are irrelevant. The media may be important for shaping attitudes on gay marriage, but the New York Times absolves itself, de Blasio, Sharpton, Obama, Holder and the rest as having no influence. Brinsley acted alone.
And besides he was probably crazy.
The argument from mental instability seems to be getting quite a bit of traction these days. It’s really just a way of excusing behavior as the result of individual pathology, unrelated to wider culture. When the BBC reported on a recent spate of attacks by Muslims in France, it avoided any mention that the attackers were Muslim despite two of them shouting “God is great” in Arabic, including the driver of a van in Nantes in which ten people were wounded and one was clinically dead. Nevertheless,
French officials say the motive behind the attack is not clear. “I wouldn’t say it was a terrorist attack. I would call it a deliberate act,” French interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said, adding that an investigation was underway. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the attacker in Nantes seemed to be “unbalanced”. The driver was arrested after targeting pedestrians in five different parts of the city in the space of half an hour. The city’s prosecutor said the attacker had a long history of mental illness, and the incident was not linked to terrorism.
It’s not at all surprising that people who are “unbalanced” may commit crimes, but neither is it surprising that unbalanced people are prone to messages of hatred toward the native French put out by some in the Muslim community. (And if one makes the argument that such people are a small minority of the Muslims invading Europe, such attacks [along with rape gangs in the U.K. and much else] are an unnecessary and unacceptable cost of immigration.)
The same goes for Brinsley. Obviously, he’s not typical of young Black men because otherwise such shootings would be rife. But the media and the liberal political figures who put all the blame on the police are indeed responsible for his actions. They painted Blacks as nothing more than victims of White racism, despite there being no evidence that racial prejudice had anything to do with it, thereby ignoring Michael Brown’s violent, life-endangering actions toward Darren Wilson, and despite Eric Garner’s medical condition that resulted in death under conditions that would not have killed a normally healthy man of his age.
The media and the liberal political class do indeed have blood on their hands.
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The likes of Andrew Flintoff and Eric Bristow were among the sports stars who paid tribute to 'voice of darts' Sid Waddell at the popular commentator's funeral in Leeds.
Flintoff and Bristow arrived together at the service in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, followed into the Parish Church by Sky Sports presenter Jeff Stelling and the chairman of the Professional Darts Corporation, Barry Hearn.
Football commentator John Helm said as he arrived: "If we'd had an Olympic Games for commentators he would have won the gold medal so many times.
"He was top of the tree. We are here to pay tribute to a colossus of his trade. Every time I was with Sid he always made me laugh. He was a man with so much eloquence he could stop the world with his commentaries."
Waddell died earlier this month at the age of 72, following a battle against bowel cancer.
He was one of the most recognisable figures in the sport, famed for his unique one-liners delivered in his trademark North East accent.
Sky Sports coverage
Northumberland-born and a Cambridge graduate, Waddell was a central part of Sky Sports' coverage of PDC darts events since 1994.
He was known for his colourful and excitable commentary style, with his best-known lines including "There's only one word for it - 'magic darts'."
He also noted, while watching Bristow become world champion: "When Alexander of Macedonia was 33, he cried salt tears because there were no more worlds to conquer ... Bristow's only 27."
The church was packed for the hour-long service which featured tributes from Hearn, Sky Sports commentator Dave Lanning and Waddell's son Dan.
There was no coffin brought in as Waddell was cremated at a private service earlier.
In his eulogy, Hearn talked about the commentator's "frenetic, Geordie frenzy" style.
He said: "We wouldn't be where we are today without his service to the sport. Painting those pictures, those Picassos, Sid took a pub game and made it a global phenomenon."
Trophy
Hearn told the congregation how a new trophy named after Waddell would be presented at the PDC World Championships.
In his tribute, Dan Waddell said: "To me he was more like a mate. We could speak about sport. We could speak about books. We could speak about anything.
"I'll miss those chats. I'll miss my mate."
Outside there were more tributes to Waddell.
Flintoff described the fun he had joining his friend in the TV commentary box.
He said: "At home we'd spend hours watching him entertaining us on TV as well. He was a great man and it was a fitting tribute today when the theme of the service was all about his character and how much fun he was. He was just great to be around.
"There's not too many people who can make people smile instantly and spread happiness almost. He'll be sadly missed."
Keith Deller, who won the World Championship in 1983, said Waddell projected darts worldwide as a sport in the 1980s when many commentators wrote it off as a game for fat beer drinkers.
"He was a very intelligent man," Deller said. "I think he was a lot more intelligent than the people who were writing against us. He really did give us a lot of credibility.
"He had so much enthusiasm for every game."
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Media Culture & Society; Media Culture & Society
Television audiences care less about suffering experienced by people in other countries when they watch the news than when they watch a range of different programmes, according to new research.
The study by Dr Martin Scott, from the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia, examined how audiences respond to UK television coverage of suffering, for example as the result of disasters and conflicts.He found that the participants were in many cases indifferent to what they saw and relieved that it did not affect them, especially the younger and male viewers. However there were instances, mostly among older and female participants, of particularly emotional responses to suffering.Dr Scott, a lecturer in media and development, said documentaries and current affairs programmes prompted more emotional responses than television news because they offered viewers a closer, more complex representation of suffering, and provided more opportunity to hear from those affected and to understand the issues involved."News coverage is important, but we have to realise that two minute news items are not necessarily going to make people care more," said Dr Scott. "That's not to say that the media can't achieve this in documentaries and other types of programming, such as drama, comedy and reality TV."If we wish to see the media playing a role in promoting solidarity between humans, then the appearance of people in other countries in programming outside of the news should be a priority. It is important to look beyond peak moments of news coverage. Interestingly, though, the study also showed that advertisements from charities like Oxfam and Save the Children only accounted for three per cent of all occasions in which people encountered people from other countries on television."Dr Scott highlighted the BBC's 'global purpose' to bring the world to the UK, which includes explicit reference not only to news programming, but also to documentaries and other genres, such as drama, comedy, sport and educational outputs. He said other broadcasters around the world should "strongly consider" doing the same.The study, published in the January issue of the journal Media, Culture & Society , involved a series of focus group interviews over a three month period with more than 100 people. Half of the participants also kept online diaries about all media and non-media sources they encountered on a daily basis that had some connection to people in other countries. They recorded various details, such as the type of programme, what they thought about it and why they decided to watch or not watch it.References to news items, for example about the conflict in Afghanistan and violence in Madagascar, prompted objective, descriptive responses rather than emotional reactions. There was also greater evidence of resistance to emotional appeals than there was evidence of emotional engagement in talk about news, with participants particularly critical of what they saw as attempts to make them feel a certain way.Documentaries, for example about violence in Gaza and the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, drew more emotional responses and language to describe the suffering experienced by people there.Of the 290 diary entries made, just 5% (15) related to non-media references, such as conversations with family or work colleagues, while 67% were about television. The most common references to television content were documentaries and current affairs (94), news (88), reality TV programmes (9) and non-governmental organization (NGO) advertisements (6). The remaining 28% of references were spread between newspapers (8%), radio (7%), online (5%), films (3%) books (3%) and magazines (2%).'The mediation of distant suffering: an empirical contribution beyond television news texts', by Dr Martin Scott, is published in Media, Culture & Society , January 2014, volume 36, issue 1, p3-19.
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“Customers,” Mr. Hartt said, “is the new buzzword.”
One of the most inventive efforts is in Ohio , where the Legislature is set to approve a bill that would allow drilling for oil and gas in the shale beneath some state parks. Lawmakers say parks would directly benefit from revenues. The number of full-time Ohio parks employees has declined by nearly 40 percent over the last decade, and the state says it faces $1 billion in delayed repairs and maintenance.
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“I don’t want to see the parks become refineries or anything like that,” said Paul Wolf, president of Friends for the Preservation of Ohio State Parks. “But it’s a tough decision to make. If parks deteriorate, what good is keeping drilling out of the parks?”
When a State House committee passed the measure last month, Jack Shaner of the Ohio Environmental Council said in a statement: “Under park rules, it is unlawful for a camper to tack a clothesline to a tree. But under the bill, it would be O.K. for a driller to chop his way through the forest to set up a drilling rig. This puts a whole new spin on ‘getting away from it all.’ ”
The resignation some feel about the Ohio plan is rooted in a broader sense nationwide that the status of parks has permanently changed, that parks officials cannot passively presume that lawmakers, Democrat or Republican, will rescue them. Yet some officials also worry that rising fees, rising gas prices and a need to “market” parks to people who will spend money will keep those with lower incomes from enjoying public lands.
“We’re catering more to Middle America, to middle-class recreationists, and there’s nothing wrong with that,” said Richard Just, the chief planner at the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation and immediate past president of National Association of Recreation Resource Planners.
But, Mr. Just said, a basic pact between parks and the public — the idea that parks will be easily accessible and affordable, and safeguarded by the state — is at risk. He recalled a new board member of the association asking, “In what way are they state parks anymore?”
Last year, Gov. C. L. Otter of Idaho proposed eliminating the parks department altogether. That plan died amid resistance and concerns over a loss in federal matching funds. In California, federal rules also complicate Governor Brown’s plan. But in Idaho, parks officials are not relaxing. Mr. Just pointed to Farragut State Park near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where he said the state makes money from entrance fees as well as by selling discs to users of its Wreckreator Frisbee golf course. The idea is to do what the views of the northern Rockies apparently cannot do alone: attract a variety of park users and their money.
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“We’ve put all of our eggs in the marketing basket,” Mr. Just said. “We’re paying a lot more attention to — and I hate this phrase — running them like a business, because they’re not a business.”
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Efforts at streamlining and privatizing are everywhere. Colorado just approved merging its parks department with the Division of Wildlife. Arizona and Florida are considering privatizing park operations. Local governments have taken over operations at certain state parks. Community groups mow grass and plow snow. One, in Aurora, N.Y., is paying for a portable toilet for Knox Farm State Park.
In Georgia, parks financing has been cut by almost 50 percent since 2008, said Becky Kelley, the parks director there. Georgia parks are in the middle of what Ms. Kelley called a “repositioning,” expected for completion in 2015, that is intended to make them financially independent by raising revenues from sources like parking fees and overnight Father’s Day packages at golf courses in state parks.
“We were told by the General Assembly to ‘pursue a strategy of self-sufficiency,’ ” Ms. Kelley said. “We realized we could not hunker down and wait it out. This was a different day.”
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As fees rise, some services are declining. Maintenance and repair backlogs grow while staff shrinks. “They just redid the bathrooms, but now they’re not even open,” said Margo Townsend, walking West Beach at Deception Pass, which spans two islands in Puget Sound.
At nearby Rosario Beach, also in Deception Pass, “We’ve got rangers with degrees cleaning restrooms,” said Sammye Kempbell, a volunteer.
Often the only park representatives at a site, volunteers are growing accustomed to authority. Ms. Kempbell applied for grant money to buy the cart she uses to haul educational materials out to teach children by the tide pools. She also leads volunteer training.
Ms. Kempbell has been doing this work for eight years and loves it. But at 68, she said she would like to spend a little more time enjoying parks and a little less time saving them — not that she expects the need to go away.
“A lot of us who do these things are retirees,” said Ms. Kempbell, hauling her cart off the rocky beach as the tide rose and an afternoon rain began to fall. “We need some young blood.”
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CHARLOTTE -- With many still wondering if Michael Oher will be at next week’s mandatory minicamp, the offensive tackle may have hinted at the answer on Instagram Thursday night with a picture that was posted and quickly deleted.
On Friday, Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman made clear his concern about Oher, who's been in the NFL's concussion protocol for more than eight months.
"I don’t know if Michael posted that photo or not," Gettleman said. "Regardless, my primary interest is Michael's health."
On May 5, Gettleman flew to Nashville to meet with Oher because Gettleman had not spoken to Oher since early March.
"We really had a great visit. We talked for an hour, had lunch, it was a very comfortable conversation. We talked about a lot of things – nothing about football. It was about him, how he was doing and the issues he was dealing with," Gettleman said. "It started and ended well. And after we met, Michael did follow up for a few days. However, the communication has stopped.
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We asked 8 Senate Republicans to explain what their health bill is trying to do
Senate Republicans can't answer simple and critical questions about the health care bill they're crafting in secret.
Some still can't say what it's trying to do — other than garner enough votes to pass the Senate — or how they believe it will improve the American health care system.
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With the bill’s text still not released for public view, Vox asked GOP senators to explain their hopes for it. Who will benefit from the legislation? What problems is this bill trying to solve?
“All of them,” Sen. John McCain said in an interview, not an uncharacteristic response of his Republican Senate colleagues.
Over the course of the past week, Vox asked eight Republican senators to explain the affirmative case for the bill. They rarely answered directly, at least not on the bill’s policy merits.
Sometimes a senator could identify a desired outcome, like “lowering premiums” or “stabilizing marketplaces.” But they rarely could explain the mechanism through which they planned on achieving that outcome.
How will Republicans lower premiums? “It’s working together and coming up with a bill that does do that,” Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas said. What tool will bring stability to Obamacare’s volatile exchanges? “By bringing certainty to the insurance market,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said. What new policy will lead tax cuts to lower premiums? “It’s teetering because the exchanges are failing,” Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi explained.
Read for yourself. Here are the transcripts of our eight interviews with Republican senators.
McCain on the problems this bill is trying to solve: “They’re trying to get to 51 votes”
Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Clarification: Upon reviewing the recording, McCain cut me off before the full question was out. We have included brackets to clarify what was not in the recording.
Tara Golshan, Vox
Generally, what are the big problems this bill is trying to solve?
John McCain
Almost all of them. They’re trying to get to 51 votes.
Tara Golshan
Policy-wise. What are the problems [in the American health care system] this is trying to solve — and is the bill doing that right now?
John McCain
Well, it's whether you have full repeal, whether you have partial repeal, whether you have the basis of it. It's spread all over.
Tara Golshan
But based on the specifics of the bill you have heard so far, is it solving the problems [in the health care system]?
John McCain
What I hear is that we have not reached consensus. That’s what everybody knows.
Tara Golshan
Right, but outside of getting the votes. From what you hear of the actual legislation being written, is it solving the problems you see —
John McCain
It's not being written. Because there's no consensus.
Tara Golshan
But generally speaking, what are the big problems it is trying to solve?
John McCain
You name it. Everything from the repeal caucus, which as you know, they have made their views very clear — Rand Paul, etc. And then there are the others on the other side of the spectrum that just want to make minor changes to the present system. There’s not consensus.
Sen. Chuck Grassley says the AHCA will bring certainty to the market because insurers will “know what the government policy is”
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images
Jeff Stein, Vox
I want to ask a very broad question: What do you think this health care bill will accomplish that will improve America? What's the positive case for this bill?
Chuck Grassley
Well, I can tell you what it's going to do for Iowa. We are one of those states that in a couple of weeks if [the insurer] Medica pulls out, we'll have 94 of our 95 counties won't have any insurance ,even for people who have the subsidies. That's what we have to concentrate on now.
Jeff Stein
How do you think the bill will fix that problem?
Chuck Grassley
Well, by bringing certainty to the insurance market. They don't have that certainty now.
Jeff Stein
By bringing certainty to the insurance market. What certainty?
Chuck Grassley
What?
Jeff Stein
What do you mean by certainty?
Chuck Grassley
Well, they can't even file. They have to check the rates real high if they don't know what the government policy is. And so the certainty is that passing a bill gives the health insurance companies certainty.
Jeff Stein
Wouldn't not passing a bill also do that?
Chuck Grassley
No, it ... well, yeah — it gives them certainty that you'll have a lot higher rates than if you pass the bill.
Jeff Stein
So you're saying [the bill] will lower the rates?
Chuck Grassley
Um, if you're talking about lowering the rates from now down, no. The rates could be way up here. [Points to sky] And if they — if we get a bill passed, it maybe wouldn't go up or would go up a heck of a lot less than they would without a bill.
Jeff Stein
By "rates," are you talking about premiums?
Chuck Grassley
Yeah, premiums. … I'm sorry I have to go.
Sen. John Boozman on the mechanisms to bring down premiums: “It’s working together and coming up with a bill that does do that”
Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, right, at a health care rally for Medicare prescription Part D in 2006
Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images
Jeff Stein
What do you think this health care bill will accomplish? How will it help people in America with their health insurance?
John Boozman
Well, right now when I go back to Arkansas — we’ve got so many people in Arkansas, premiums have gone up 128 percent in the past four years. We have all kinds of people in a situation where if they’re fortunate enough to afford the premium, they’ve got $5[,000] to $10,000 deductibles. And so hopefully we’ll deal with some of those problems
Jeff Stein
How does this bill do that?
John Boozman
Well, it makes it such that it’s more affordable. So that’s really what we’re working through now. We don’t have a bill yet; we’re working hard to come to an agreement so we can solve some of those problems.
Jeff Stein
Why will this bill reduce premiums? How will it lead to the outcome you’re describing?
John Boozman
Well, again, like I said, that’s what we’re working through here. I’m not going to negotiate the bill now. We’re in a situation where that is the outcome.
I know that the course we’re going down is simply not sustainable. The other problem we’ve got is that premiums were held down through the election; the premiums, in my state, the increase will be at least 20 to 25 percent. That’s what the insurance commissioners are telling me. I think we’re on an unsustainable course.
Jeff Stein
But I’m curious why you believe this bill will fix that problem. What’s the mechanism for fixing it?
John Boozman
It’s working together and coming up with a bill that does do that. Because we’re in a situation with Obamacare that, again, we don’t have a sustainable product.
Jeff Stein
Why is cutting Medicaid necessary?
John Boozman
I’m not going to argue with you. Who do you represent?
Jeff Stein
Vox-dot-com. It’s a website. I’m just trying to understand how the bill works. That’s it.
John Boozman
Well, we don’t have a bill. That’s what we’re working on. The reason we’re working really hard to come up with a bill is to solve some of the problems of Obamacare.
Because of the problems I outlined, we have a lot of people in a situation with increased premiums, increased deductibles. If you’re an Arkansan, you have a $5,000 deductible, you really don’t have insurance. You have catastrophic insurance, and after that it’s not such that you don’t have everything paid for — it’s probably an 80-20 match after that. So these are real problems that affect real people. We’re trying to come up with a solution that makes things more affordable.
We come up with a bill, and then Health and Human Services — [Secretary of Health and Human Services] Dr. [Tom] Price is working hard — the bill that was written, Obamacare, the way it was written, they have a lot of flexibility. We’re looking for ways to put more flexibility in the system. We have a bunch of counties next year that simply won’t only not have limited competition; they’re going to be in a situation where … there…
Jeff Stein
I know the bill isn’t done, but what do you think in the general Republican overhaul — what do you think Obamacare is doing right now that isn’t allowing these problems to be taken care of? What is your hope for what the Republican bill will do to change the problem you’re identifying?
John Boozman
I think Obamacare, the problem with it is there is nothing in it to drive down and contain costs. That was the problem we had going into health care when we were trying to fix it, was affordability.
Jeff Stein
So you think this will drive down costs. How?
John Boozman
Again, that’s what we’re trying to work through. Identifying the solutions that will work.
Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi: the AHCA “will encourage more freedom”
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS).
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Jeff Stein
What do you think this health care bill would solve?
Roger Wicker
What do I think of the health care bill in general?
Jeff Stein
What problems do you think it would take care of in America?
Roger Wicker
Oh, goodness. Well.
It will, well, encourage more freedom by eliminating mandates at the individual level and the employer. It will cut taxes. It will moderate prices for premiums and inject some competition that is sadly lacking. And it will save money. It will rescue a system that is teetering on the brink.
Jeff Stein
How will it rescue a system teetering on the brink? Because you think the tax cuts will allow for premiums to come down? How?
Roger Wicker
It’s teetering because the exchanges are failing. They’re not acting as they were intended. And as a result, insurers are dropping out. There are counties with no option.
Jeff Stein
I want to understand why you think the bill will help the marketplaces.
Roger Wicker
For the reasons I’m giving you. A very comprehensive answer, I think.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is frustrated. “I want greater access and lower costs. So far, I'm not seeing that happen.”
Bill Clark/Getty Images
Dylan Scott, Vox
What do you want this health care plan to achieve?
Lisa Murkowski
I want greater access and lower costs. So far, I'm not seeing that happen.
Dylan Scott
How confident are you that the plan under discussion would do that, compared to Obamacare?
Lisa Murkowski
This is the big issue as I'm talking to folks back home. I continue to hear stories of great frustration. Increasing premium costs. Increasing share of deductibles. Decreasing access. They know what they don't like.
They know what they do like. They do like the fact that they have gotten coverage for preexisting conditions. They do like the fact that they're able to keep their kids on [their insurance]. There's some positives and then some bad things.
When you ask Alaskans about their stories and what they want, they need increased affordability. Because we are slammed in every category, with premiums and the cost of care. Everything. They wanted decreased costs, increased access.
Dylan Scott
Are you seeing provisions in the plan that's being discussed that would achieve that?
Lisa Murkowski
The plan the House laid down does not help Alaska. It does not help decrease their costs, and it does not help increase their access.
So the question is whether or not what is being built on the Senate side is going to better reflect that. My hope is that it will.
I can't show to my constituents back home anything concrete because we don't have anything. We've been talking about ideas. But for instance, if you are going to eliminate Medicaid expansion or even if you're going to wind down Medicaid expansion, that's not increasing access.
I think the requirements that I'm looking for and my constituents are asking for are pretty basic. My task is going to be to make sure that those basic asks are met.
Dylan Scott
Do you have any specific metrics in mind? How do you evaluate whether a plan is going to lower costs or increase access?
Lisa Murkowski
It was pretty easy for the state to run the numbers under the House-passed bill.
As the president was quick to point out the other day, the situation in Alaska is that we've seen a 203 percent increase in premiums. That speaks to the imperative of why you need to repeal and replace the [Affordable Care Act].
But what needs to be shared is that if the House-passed bill were actually going to play, the increase to Alaskans, for a 50-year-old male earning $50,000 a year, he would see his premiums hike by 500 percent. So it's all a matter of scale.
I don't know what it is that will actually come forward. This has been part of my frustration. What's the Senate bill going to look like? I don't know.
I've got people calling my office, I've got people coming online to protest. They're saying, "Don't vote for this!" Well, what is this? We don't know what this is yet.
Dylan Scott
I know some senators have tried to say you're starting from scratch and building your own plan. But it seems like in a lot of important ways, the Senate is really just tinkering with and trying to rework the House plan.
Lisa Murkowski
But again, I don't know that. Because none of us have actually seen language.
Is it the framework of the House-passed bill and then we're filling in our own details? I don't know. We just don't know.
My constituents expect me to know, and if we had utilized the process that goes through a committee, I would be able to answer not only your questions but my constituents' questions.
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas says “the most important objective” is to lower premiums
Andrew Burton / Getty Images
Dylan Scott
Stepping back, what is the most important thing for this bill to achieve? How is it going to make things better?
Ted Cruz
The most important objective in repealing Obamacare is to lower health insurance premiums.
The biggest reason so many millions of people are frustrated and angry with Obamacare is that it’s caused premiums to skyrocket, making health insurance unaffordable. That is a problem the federal government caused, and we need to fix that.
Dylan Scott
Do you think you can lower premiums for everyone, though? Because obviously there are some policies that could lower premiums for some people but might not for others.
Ted Cruz
Under Obamacare, the average family’s premiums have increased over $5,000 a year. Every week, when I go back to Texas, I hear from Texans who say, “I can’t afford health insurance for my family.” That is an enormous problem, and it is the direct legacy of the failed policy of Obamacare.
Dylan Scott
So the idea is that it needs to average out to a premium decrease, even if some people might see higher premiums?
Ted Cruz
We should work toward giving consumers more choices, more options, more competition, and as a result lower prices that are more affordable.
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia says “people are hurting here.” Will GOP bill help? “That’s the goal.”
Bill Clark / Getty Images
Dylan Scott
What do you want this bill to achieve, and how do you think it’s going to improve health care in America?
Shelley Moore Capito
First of all, we’ve got to stabilize the market of the places that have no coverage for the individual market, whose premiums are skyrocketing, whose deductibles are through the roof. This is a real phenomenon. Somehow we’ve lost sight of the fact that people are hurting here, and if we don’t act relatively quickly, the whole system could collapse.
Dylan Scott
So how do you evaluate, what metrics do you use to evaluate whether it achieves that or not?
Shelley Moore Capito
It’s simple. It’s the affordability, protect people with preexisting conditions, protect people with Medicaid. Try to figure out the differences between the Medicaid expansion states and the ones that didn’t expand Medicaid. These are the same principles we’ve been talking about because they’re better principles than what the ACA is giving us.
Dylan Scott
Are you confident that the Republican bill would do that in a way Obamacare has not?
Shelley Moore Capito
That’s the goal.
Dylan Scott
Right. But do you feel confident that it actually will?
Shelley Moore Capito
Unless I’m confident we can do that, I don’t know how we can move forward in good conscience.
Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio: “I’m not suggesting premiums will go down, but they won’t go up as much”
Dylan Scott
To step back a bit on this debate, what fundamental goal do you want this legislation to achieve? How is it going to improve health care?
Rob Portman
We’ve got to fix a real problem, which is that the Affordable Care Act has not worked in a couple really fundamental respects. One is you do have insurers who simply cannot operate in this market, so they’re pulling out and they’ve been losing money for some time and cost-shifting onto the employer-based plans and other private plans. So it’s already been a problem.
Now they’re at the point where they feel as though they can’t make enough money to stay out of bankruptcy, so they’re leaving. My state just got hit with 20 of those counties, but other states have been dealing with this. So that’s obviously one of the big issues, and that’s because this thing is not structured properly.
The second, and a more fundamental one for everybody I represent, it’s the cost of health care. Premiums and copays and deductibles have skyrocketed compared to what was promised.
Dylan Scott
You guys have gone beyond stabilizing the market, into overhauling Medicaid, reworking the financial assistance. How confident are you that this plan will really achieve those goals?
Rob Portman
I think we can help stabilize the market and have some impact on the cost increases. I’m not suggesting premiums will go down, but they won’t go up as much.
On Medicaid, you’re right, that’s a whole different issue. There was expansion in the ACA, but the Medicaid system itself continued as before. That’s a separate issue, which is where I’m focused, to make sure we aren’t pulling the rug out from under people.
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USA TODAY Sports
The Natural Born Killer is back.
After more than a year out of action, Carlos Condit returns to the UFC Octagon on May 30 to face former welterweight title contender Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves in the main event of UFC Fight Night 67 in Goiania, Brazil, according to a report from MMAFighting.com's Guilherme Cruz.
Condit's lengthy stint away from the cage was no optional vacation.
The Greg Jackson-trained UFC welterweight needed surgery after blowing out his knee in a fight against Tyron Woodley at UFC 171, and he has been gearing up for his return ever since.
Prior to the fight with Woodley, Condit defeated Martin Kampmann via TKO and looked to be back on track toward the 170-pound title.
Now, he'll need to build up his title worthiness once more in a headlining bout against Alves in the Pitbull's home country of Brazil.
Like Condit, Alves recently spent a considerable amount of time out of action, needing almost two years to heal from multiple injuries. From March 2012 to April 2014, Alves rested and recovered, eventually making his return against Seth Baczynski at UFC on Fox 11.
He won that fight via unanimous decision then followed that victory with another against Jordan Mein at UFC 183, where he scored a vicious body-kick knockout.
Condit, however, is a considerable step up in competition from Baczynski and Mein.
The Natural Born Killer, like Alves, challenged for former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre's strap, falling via unanimous decision.
From March 2007 to August 2008, Condit held the WEC welterweight title, a distinction he defended three times before migrating to the UFC.
He and Alves own some of the most technical and powerful stand-up in the welterweight division, so as long as Condit's knee is 100 percent ready for action, expect this to be a serious Fight of the Night contender.
Stay tuned to Bleacher Report as this card continues to take shape.
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The popular drawing toy, which had been produced by the Ohio Art Company, will now be made by the Toronto-based Spin Master
The Ohio Art Company, makers of the Etch A Sketch toy, has been sold to a Canadian firm after more than half a century of continuous production in the US.
Etch A Sketch art – in pictures Read more
The terms of the sale to Toronto-based Spin Master, have not been disclosed but executives at the Ohio-based metal lithography firm said the Canadian firm remains committed to production of Etch A Sketch and its smaller model, Doodle Sketch.
“We are very happy that children around the world will continue to be able to enjoy Etch A Sketch, one of the world’s most iconic toys,” Elena West, the CEO of Ohio Art, said in a statement.
Anton Rabie, co-CEO of Spin Master, said his firm wanted to hear from inventors, creators and designers who love the device designed by the French electrical technician André Cassagnes. Cassagnes first introduced Etch A Sketch as the L’Ecran Magique at the International Toy Fair in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1959.
Toymakers were initially unimpressed by the design. After the Ohio Art Co paid $25,000 to license production and renamed it Etch A Sketch, its popularity took off.
The sale of the firm comes just days after Ohio Art announced a new executive leadership team, only its fifth in the last 107 years. The outgoing company CEO, Bill Killgallon, a veteran of almost 50 years’ experience making and marketing the doodling device, had earlier worried about the difficulty of selling low-tech products like Etch A Sketch in the age of computer games.
“One of the big issues facing the toy industry these days is kids are getting older younger … moving from traditional toys to electronics,” Killgallon said.
Ultimately, the new management concluded production of Etch A Sketch was no longer feasible at a firm established more than a century ago to manufacture toy windmills and climbing monkey toys, and later expanding to tea sets and drums.
But the red-framed, double-spindle device has never quite exited public imagination. During the last presidential election cycle, in 2012, Mitt Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom made an error when he described his boss’s ability to adapt his views as akin to an Etch A Sketch.
The remark seemed to reinforce perceptions that the candidate held no core principles, or that his views could be easily erased and redrawn – and not that he was simply adaptable.
Spin Master, the buyers of the firm, which currently employs 100 people on the Etch A Sketch line, is best known for toys like Bakugan, Air Hogs and Spin Master Games. Rabie said his firm planned to continue production. “These toys have been popular for more than 50 years and we look forward to building on this foundation of fun and creativity,” he said.
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What Proportion of Parents’ Earnings Advantages Are Passed Onto the Next Generation?
The Pew Charitable Trusts
To make these claims, Grusky and Mitnik are calculating what’s called intergenerational elasticity, or IGE. IGE can be between 0 and 1, with 0 representing total economic mobility and 1 representing the absence of it. It works like this: Comparing children whose parents make $50,000 per year to children whose parents make 20 percent more than that ($60,000), the IGE will indicate how much of that 20-percent edge the latter children tend to retain when they start earning incomes of their own. In the past, estimates of IGE in the United States have ranged from 0.34 to 0.6, but Grusky and Mitnik’s numbers suggest it’s closer to 0.6.
This means that the amount of money one makes can be roughly predicted by how much money one’s parents made, and that only gets truer as one moves along the earnings spectrum. When dollar amounts are used, instead of IGE, the numbers are jarring: Children born to 90th-percentile earners are typically on track to make three times more than the children of 10th-percentile earners.
Children’s Expected Earnings as Adults, Based on the Percentile of Parents’ Earnings
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Interestingly, this effect is much stronger for men than women. When it comes to individual earnings, men have an IGE of 0.56, meaning they retain a lot more of their parents’ advantages than do women, whose IGE is 0.32.
The Proportion of Parents’ Earnings Advantages Passed Onto the Next Generation, by Gender
The Pew Charitable Trusts
But rich women make up for that discrepancy by being more likely to marry—and more likely to marry rich.
How Likely Men and Women Are to Get Married, Based on Their Parents’ Income
The Pew Charitable Trusts
As a result, boys and girls with richer parents go on to live in households that bring in similar amounts of money, even if their individual earnings have diverged.
So what changes could be implemented to promote economic mobility in the U.S.? The authors of the report are tight-lipped when it comes to policy fixes—“It’s really a ‘just the facts’ report,” Grusky insists—but the study’s subtext is that whatever everyone thought we had to do isn’t enough, since the picture is more worrisome than had been previously understood.
In dealing with the persistence of intergenerational wealth, the changes that would be most effective are also the most sweeping: Taking private money out of political campaigns would give more of a voice to people who’d benefit from stronger social policies. Bolstering housing-voucher programs would let poorer families move into better neighborhoods. Increasing taxes at the uppermost end of the income spectrum would redistribute perpetuated wealth. Finding ways to get lower- and middle-income workers to put more money into savings would help them improve their lots.
So, the lesson from this report: Take whatever extreme, politically unfeasible changes everyone thought were necessary to increase economic mobility and make them more extreme and more unfeasible—that might be enough.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.
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Spent: Sex, Evolution and Consumer Behavior
Geoffrey Miller
Viking, 483 pages
The Gist:
That iPhone in your pocket? That's for sex. As is pretty much everything you've ever bought, from the car you drive to the T shirt you wear or so says evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller. From mating to marketing, Miller explores how everyday consumer choices subtly and sometimes not so subtly reveal society's misguided attempts at projecting four central traits (intelligence, conscientiousness, openness, agreeableness) to attract sexual partners. (See how Americans are spending now.)
Highlight Reel:
1. On the difficulty of explaining modern life to our prehistoric ancestors: "Compared with their easygoing clannish ways, our frenetic status seeking and product hunting would look bewildering indeed. Our society would seem noisy, perplexing and maybe psychotic ... All you have to do is sit in classrooms every day for 16 years to learn counterintuitive skills, and then work and commute 50 hours a week for 40 years in tedious jobs for amoral corporations, far away from relatives and friends, without any decent child care, sense of community, political empowerment or contact with nature. Oh, and you'll have to take special medicines to avoid suicidal despair, and to avoid having more than two children. It's not so bad, really. The shoe swooshes are pretty cool."
2. On the biological concept of marketing: "Since about 1990, there have been two bloodless but momentous revolutions in human affairs: the collapse of Communism in politics, and the rise of signaling theory in biology. Both depended on the same insight: individuals work hard mostly because they want to show off to others, not for the good of the group. This tendency holds true in both organic evolution and human economics ... We've known since Darwin that animals are basically machines for survival and reproduction; now we also know that animals achieve much of their survival and reproductive success through self-advertisement, self-marketing and self-promotion."
2. On the futility of consumer capitalism: "We take wondrously adaptive capacities for human self-display language, intelligence, kindness, creativity, and beauty and then forget how to use them in making friends, attracting mates and gaining prestige. Instead, we rely on goods and services acquired through education, work and consumption to advertise our personal traits to others. These costly signals are mostly redundant or misleading, so others usually ignore them. They prefer to judge us through natural face-to-face interaction. We think our gilding dazzles them, though we ignore their own gilding when choosing our friends and mates." (See 10 things to buy during the recession.)
The Lowdown:
Like Sigmund Freud, Miller sees sex everywhere; all our acquisitions of personal goods, according to Miller, are motivated by the primal desire for procreation, pleasure or both. Though he advocates abolishing income taxes in favor of a "consumption tax" and learning to buy secondhand, he isn't a utopian hippie radical either. "Unlike many malcontents," Miller writes, "I consider the three best inventions of all time to be money, markets and media." But while Miller does his best to avoid sounding too academic (and has an ear for pulled-from-TMZ.com phrases like "insecure, praise-starved flattery-sluts"), his broad, rambling arguments read at times like a college professor's lecture notes. Worse still, his ideas don't seem particularly groundbreaking. In fact, some seem downright antiquated: Men buy Porsches to project power, women use eyeliner to look pretty, and everyone seeks attention without realizing they're going about it all wrong. But if Miller's ideas don't quite hit the mark, don't blame him. "Consumerism is hard to describe when it's the ocean and we're the plankton," he argues in his defense.
The Verdict: Skim.
See pictures of expensive things that money can buy.
See TIME's Pictures of the Week.
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DeWitt, N.Y. — One of the hottest retailers in the country has Erie Boulevard in its sights.
Trader Joe's, the specialty grocery store known for its Hawaiian shirt-clad employees and eclectic mix of products, has plans for a location at the Raymour & Flanigan plaza in DeWitt. The proposal is working its way through the town's planning board, according to meeting minutes.
Work could start soon.
The chain has about 400 stores around the country. The closest one to Syracuse at the moment is in Rochester. The company also has locations in Albany and Buffalo.
Trader Joe's is well-known for its own line of merchandise. Most of the items the stores carry are the company's brand.
Some of the chain's top items in 2013 included its pumpkin coffee, spinach and kale yogurt dip, cranberry goat cheese log and the ever-popular Charles Shaw Wine. The wine is also known as Two Buck Chuck in honor of its $1.99 price tag when it was introduced in 2002.
Of course, grocery stores in New York can't sell wine. No Chuck's for you Syracuse.
The company's brand will hold obvious appeal for Central New York foodies and health nuts. Its eggs come only from cage-free hens and products are free of things like MSG and genetically modified ingredients.
Everything bearing the Trader Joe's name gets reviewed and approved by a tasting panel.
The company was ranked 76 on the Stores magazine list of the nation's 100 hottest retailers last year. The rankings are based on how fast the companies are growing.
U.S. sales at Trader Joe's rose 7.4 percent in 2012 and its store count jumped 5 percent, according to Stores, a trade journal produced by the National Retail Federation's publishing group.
Follow Store Front on Twitter and Facebook and sign up for the weekly Store Front newsletter. Contact Kevin Tampone at ktampone@syracuse.com or (315) 454-2112. Follow him on Twitter @ktampone.
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Frequently in our church, we are asked to “magnify” our callings. If you’re unfamiliar with that term, just think of how a magnifying glass makes things appear bigger to those who look into it. Applying that same concept to your calling, it means that you should be doing more than the bare minimum required of you, so as to appear bigger and better to the ward members who are watching and presumably judging your every move. That can be a fun challenge if you’ve got a calling that you enjoy, but sometimes you’d like to take a magnifying glass to your calling in a completely different way. Sometimes you want to take it out in the sun to burn your calling to a crisp like so much ants.
So what do you do if you find yourself in that latter situation? Is there any way to remove yourself from a calling that you are unsatisfied with? The answer is YES, and it’s easier than you think! Allow me to break it down into 6 easy steps:
1-Make sure this is something you really want to do. Once you begin this journey, there is no going back. You may have regrets, but you need to make sure that the benefits outweigh them. Make a pros/cons chart, if you need to. That always seems to help people on TV shows.
2-Bide your time. This is not something that should be rushed. Get your affairs in order, make sure your loved ones are taken care of, and make sure you have the supplies you’re going to need. Starting over from scratch is both emotionally and financially exhausting.
3-Find a Body. Wait until nightfall, then go to the local graveyard and find a body that is approximately your same height and gender. It probably won’t be the first body that you dig up, but fortunately Mormonism has prepared you for all the digging you’ll require with years of service projects. Remember that one year at scout camp when Brother Harmon made you dig holes for fence posts on that ranch? He didn’t realize it, but he was preparing you, Mr Miyagi-style, for just such an occasion as this.
4-Fake your death. When deciding on a method of fake death, I subscribe to the school of thought that the more fire, the better. I recommend putting the body that you borrowed in step 3 into your car, lighting your car on fire, then pushing it off a cliff. Make sure to load the car with a few jugs of gasoline, so that there’s a really cool explosion when it hits the ground.
5-Flee. Can you smell what I smell? That’s the smell of sweet liberation from your unwanted calling! (Sweet liberation smells a lot like burning gasoline.) This liberation is just around the corner, but for now you need to decide on a place to live out this new-found freedom. At this point, the world is your oyster; Will you go to Mexico? Europe? Nebraska? That is for you to decide. In any case, I recommend going at least 5 miles away from your previous residence. You will also want to make yourself look unlike yourself. Color your hair, grow a beard, shave your eyebrows, get a tattoo on your face, amputate an arm, part your hair on the other side, start chewing gum… do anything you need to do to not be recognized as the former owner of your calling. You also get to come up with a new name, so you might as well make it as cool as possible, like “Zeus Dragonheart” or “Gregory Fireball” or “Rocky Rocketship” or “Nads McLaserknife.” Those are all available, by the way, so feel free to use them.
6-Start your new life. You have now been given carte blanche to create whatever life you want! With the right forged documents, you can be whatever you want to be, so get creative with your new self. Are you an astronaut? A corn-farmer? A pirate? An accountant? You decide! You’ll also have to pick a religion for your new self; are you still going to be Mormon? I hope so, but have you ever considered becoming a Jehovah’s Witness? They seem like nice people, and famous musician Prince is one of these, so you’d be in good company. Also, if you do choose a non-LDS religion, there’s practically zero chance of them giving you the same calling you just escaped from… Just something to think about.
From time to time, you will be tempted to contact people from your former life. You absolutely cannot take this chance. There’s too much of a risk that they will know about your calling, and they may ask you to perform the duties thereof, which would utterly ruin everything that you’ve worked for thus far. When you start to miss your loved ones, you’ll have to stalk them anonymously through social media. After all, if that’s not the purpose of social media, then what is?
Wow, congratulations, you did it! You’re now free from the burden of your undesired calling! It feels good, doesn’t it? I’m so proud of you for having the courage to do this. Some people would call you a coward for running away from teaching a class of 4-year olds, but I salute you as a doggone hero.
…Of course, there is another option: you could always go to your bishop and ask to be released. Most bishops are pretty cool about that kind of thing, actually.
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Tim Jeanes reported this story on Monday, June 20, 2016 12:49:26
ELEANOR HALL: In South Australia, an infestation of Russian wheat aphids is triggering debate over the use of genetically modified crops.
GM crops are banned in South Australia but the Australian grains industry is promoting a pest resistant strain of genetically modified wheat as a way to counter the pest.
Opponents of GM though say conventional controls should be used.
Tim Jeanes reports.
TIM JEANES: The discovery of the Russian wheat aphid in South Australia's Tarlee region last month sent shudders of concern among Australia's grain industry.
It's since spread across other South Australian grain growing regions and into Victoria.
If left untreated it can cause damage of up to 75 per cent.
Unlike many, biodynamic farmer Phillip Dunn from Tarlee is sanguine - confident that natural predator insects will take care of the problem.
PHILLIP DUNN: It's a bit of an unknown. We can't spray so there's no other option. We're pretty busy and whatever happens, happens. I can't worry about it so we'll just play it by ear.
TIM JEANES: But not everyone is so confident natural bugs will be the answer with hopes GM technology may be able to provide answers.
MATTHEW COSSEY: There's certainly the capacity and in fact there is international research going on to develop new aphid resistant GM wheat varieties and other crops.
That's why innovation in agriculture is so crucial.
TIM JEANES: That's the chief executive of Crop Life Australia, Matthew Cossey representing Australia's peak body of the agricultural chemical and biotechnology sectors.
South Australia and Tasmania have banned the use of GM crops until at least 2019.
Proponents of GM technology say that's hindering national research projects as it makes research dollars less likely, with investors put off by the prospect of developing products that can't be used across the country.
Mr Cossey says the South Australian approach is bad public policy.
MATTHEW COSSEY: States like South Australia should get rid of these antiquated moratoria that serve no purpose except to make farming harder.
TIM JEANES: Could this be done with non-GM techniques?
MATTHEW COSSEY: Well, we advocate the research should go on in all spaces from the plant science industry but GM research and GM crops still provide some of the greatest breakthroughs that technology is 30 years proven, it is the safest plant breeding that has ever been done in human history.
GM crops in fact are the most tested food technology in human history altogether and it is the science that really holds some very, very important breakthroughs for farming into the future.
TIM JEANES: Not so says the executive director of the group Gene Ethics, Bob Phelps.
He says wheat varieties have proven notoriously difficult to develop using GM technology and the state should keep its moratorium.
BOB PHELPS: Well, the new genetic manipulation technologies known as gene editing pose the same kinds of hazards at least as the old cut and paste techniques to the environment, to public health.
TIM JEANES: But go to any supermarket in America for example and there's a fair chance that you buy your canola, corn, soya bean products, you will be buying a GM product. Surely if these health risks that you say are real, they would have been banned?
BOB PHELPS: We're not saying that anybody is going to die tomorrow from these things but for instance the recent revelations about the most used herbicide in the world glyphosate, that it's a probable human carcinogen; these things should concern us and the same with the slow burn impacts of genetic manipulation.
ELEANOR HALL: That's Bob Phelps from the group Gene Ethics, ending that report from Tim Jeanes.
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Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari blamed on Friday Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his security officials for the Islamist insurgency gaining power in parts of Iraq, in a rare criticism of the Iraqi leader by a government official.
“Surely the man who is responsible for the general policies bears the responsibility and the general commander of the armed force, the ministers of defense and interior also bear these responsibilities,” Zebari said, in a statement to Al Arabiya News Channel.
“There are other sides who bear responsibility, maybe political partners, but the biggest and greatest responsibility is on the person in charge of public policies,” Zebari added.
The Kurdish foreign minister’s comments are likely to further deteriorate relations between Maliki’s Shiite-led government and the Kurds.
Such deterioration would complicate efforts to reach a power-sharing government, capable of combating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants.
ISIS militants and their allies have seized large swathes of Iraq in recent weeks and declared a so-proclaimed Islamic “Caliphate” in their territories.
Meanwhile, Iraq’s most influential Shiite preacher, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, appealed to Iraqi politicians not to be “obstacles” standing in the country’s transition of power, as the deadline for naming a new prime minister looms.
In remarks delivered through his spokesman, Sistani’s appeals are seen as an indirect appeal to Maliki to leave office.
Regional threat
The growing power of ISIS has alarmed other Arab states who are concerned that their campaign could embolden militants on their patch.
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz called on regional leader and religious scholars on Friday to rise against the militants trying to “hijack” Islam.
The king did not name specific groups, but indirectly referred to violence in countries such as Iraq and Syria.
In July, the Kurdish political bloc ended all participation in Iraq’s national government, after Maliki accused the Kurds of allowing terrorists to stay in Erbil, the capital of their semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.
Maliki is ruling in a caretaker capacity, after he won a parliamentary election in April but failed to win enough support from the Kurdish, Sunni minorities and some fellow Shiites to form a new Cabinet.
Biggest threat since Saddam’s fall
ISIS’ offensive has spiked sectarian tensions and threatened to dismember Iraq. The conflict poses the biggest danger to the stability of the OPEC country since the 2003 fall of longtime dictator Saddam Hussein after a U.S.-led invasion.
Maliki appointed Hussain al-Shahristani, a Shiite deputy prime minister, as acting foreign minister.
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Credit: DC Comics
Credit: DC Comics
FOREVER EVIL #6
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by DAVID FINCH and RICHARD FRIEND
Cover by DAVID FINCH
1:25 Variant cover by ETHAN VAN SCIVER
1:50 Variant cover by ETHAN VAN SCIVER
1:100 Variant cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, 6 OF 7, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with five covers. Please see the order form for more information.
The final fate of Nightwing! The most unlikely of allies have set the Crime Syndicate in their sights — and they’re playing for keeps while the life of a hero hangs in the balance! Plus, the identity of the mysterious man in the hood is finally revealed!
This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
Credit: DC Comics
JUSTICE LEAGUE #28
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art and cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by DAN PANOSIAN
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for details.
“FOREVER EVIL” continues! With the Justice League gone, new heroes continue to rise up throughout the DC Universe! The Crime Syndicate tried to kill him, but now Cyborg is back to settle the score — and with him are The Metal Men!
This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
Credit: DC Comics
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #12
Written by MATT KINDT
Art by EDDY BARROWS, EBER FERREIRA and TOM DERENICK
Cover by EDDY BARROWS and EBER FERREIRA
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by MATTEO SCALERA
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for more information.
A devastating battle against Despero begins as Manhunter and Stargirl arrive in San Francisco to save Stargirl’s family from Firestorm’s fallout!
This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
Credit: DC Comics
FOREVER EVIL: A.R.G.U.S. #5
Written by STERLING GATES
Art by NEIL EDWARDS, JASON PAZ and JAY LEISTEN
Cover by HOWARD PORTER
1:25 B&W Variant cover by HOWARD PORTER
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, 5 of 6, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
A.R.G.U.S. leader Colonel Steve Trevor has struck a deadly alliance with Killer Frost in order to find Wonder Woman’s lost lasso! Only one problem: the lasso is in the hands of the deadly Cheetah, who doesn’t mind soaking it in Trevor’s blood!
Credit: DC Comics
FOREVER EVIL: ARKHAM WAR #5
Written by PETER J. TOMASI
Art by SCOT EATON and JAIME MENDOZA
Cover by JASON FABOK
1:25 B&W Variant cover by JASON FABOK
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, 5 of 6, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
Bane must face Scarecrow’s army of criminal psychopaths who have been enhanced by his Venom toxin! The fate of Gotham City hangs in the balance as Bane faces odds even he might not be able to beat!
Credit: DC Comics
FOREVER EVIL: ROGUES REBELLION #5
Written by BRIAN BUCCELLATO
Art by SCOTT HEPBURN
Cover by DECLAN SHALVEY
1:25 B&W Variant cover by DECLAN SHALVEY
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, 5 of 6, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
The Rogues against the might of The Royal Flush Gang! Guess who just got dealt a losing hand? Do the boys have any more tricks up their sleeves, or will this be the end of their run?
Credit: DC Comics
TRINITY OF SIN: THE PHANTOM STRANGER #16
Written by J.M. DeMATTEIS
Art by FERNANDO BLANCO
Cover by GUILLEM MARCH
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
“FOREVER EVIL: BLIGHT” continues! The Justice League Dark infiltrates the Crime Syndicate – by striking an unholy alliance with Aquaman’s evil doppelganger: The Sea King! Continues in this month’s CONSTANTINE #11!
Credit: DC Comics
CONSTANTINE #11
Written by RAY FAWKES
Art by ACO
Cover by HOWARD PORTER
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
“FOREVER EVIL: BLIGHT” continues! Project Thaumaton revealed! The Crime Syndicate has twisted the world’s greatest mystics into something horrible – is this the beginning of the end? Continues in this month’s TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA #8!
Credit: DC Comics
TRINITY OF SIN: PANDORA #8
Written by RAY FAWKES
Art by FRANCIS PORTELA
Cover by JULIAN TOTINO TEDESCO
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
“FOREVER EVIL: BLIGHT” continues! Pandora and The Justice League Dark race to save the world’s mystics from The Crime Syndicate! Continues in this month’s JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #28!
Credit: DC Comics
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #28
Written by J.M. DeMATTEIS
Art and cover by MIKEL JANIN
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by TOMMY LEE EDWARDS
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
“FOREVER EVIL: BLIGHT” continues! What has The Crime Syndicate done to the world’s most powerful mystics – and what is Project Thaumaton? The world continues to grow darker before the dawn and Constantine will be forced to do the unthinkable!
Credit: DC Comics
SUICIDE SQUAD #28
Written by MATT KINDT
Art by PATRICK ZIRCHER
Cover by STEVE SKROCE
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
The Thinker unleashes OMAC on the Suicide Squad at the doors of Belle Reve! In this epic clash, not all will survive!
Credit: DC Comics
AQUAMAN #28
Written by JEFF PARKER
Art and cover by PAUL PELLETIER and SEAN PARSONS
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by RICHARD HORIE
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
He’s saved a diver from a vicious shark attack – but he’ll soon regret it. His most powerful weapon has been stolen from his care – and he’s never even heard of the man who took it. But Aquaman’s greatest challenge yet may be Amnesty Bay’s ten year high school reunion!
Credit: DC Comics
THE FLASH #28
Written by BRIAN BUCCELLATO
Art by PATRICK ZIRCHER
Cover by PASQUAL FERRY
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by HOWARD CHAYKIN
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
The Flash and Deadman team up to stop The Miner – by killing him?
Credit: DC Comics
GREEN ARROW #28
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art and cover by ANDREA SORRENTINO
“We Can Be Heroes” blank variant cover available
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
“The Outsiders War” part 3! If you’re still in shock over the end of last issue, just wait until you see happens next! Nothing could have prepared Green Arrow for this!
Credit: DC Comics
JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000 #3
Written by KEITH GIFFEN and J.M. DeMATTEIS
Art and cover by HOWARD PORTER
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
The Flash is defeated. Green Lantern is in the clutches of Locus, a psychotic teenaged girl with the powers of God. And Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman have been banished to a planet wide penal colony!
Credit: DC Comics
WONDER WOMAN #28
Written by BRIAN AZZARELLO
Art and cover by CLIFF CHIANG
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by J.G. JONES
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
The last time the First Born came for Olympus, it took the death of the God of War to stop him. And if Wonder Woman is now the God of War…and if the First Born is more determined than ever to claim his birthright…then things are about to get VERY violent indeed!
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN/SUPERMAN #8
Written by GREG PAK
Art and cover by KENNETH ROCAFORT
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by
TOMMY LEE EDWARDS
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for more information.
The Worlds’ Finest teams of two worlds meet at last in chapter 1 of “First Contact”! With Power Girl’s abilities on the fritz, see what happens when her long-lost cousin Superman approaches her! And a major threat returns in a way you won’t believe! Continues in this month’s WORLDS’ FINEST #8.
This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
Credit: DC Comics
WORLDS’ FINEST #20
Written by PAUL LEVITZ
Art by R.B. SILVA and JOE WEEMS
Cover by EMANUALA LUPACCHINO
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Power Girl and Huntress come face to face with the
Superman and Batman of the DC Universe for the
first time in chapter 2 of “First Contact”! Continues in next month’s BATMAN/SUPERMAN #9!
Credit: DC Comics
EARTH 2 #20
Written by TOM TAYLOR
Art by BARRY KITSON
Cover by JAE LEE
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by DAN PANOSIAN
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
Superman’s plans for Earth 2 finally come to light as Batman, Hawkgirl and Red Tornado join a new ally who could turn the tide in the war with Apokolips.
Credit: DC Comics
SUPERMAN/WONDER WOMAN #5
Written by CHARLES SOULE
Art and cover by TONY S. DANIEL and BATT
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by DAN PANOSIAN
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for more information.
Faora has joined Zod – and now, Earth must kneel before their combined might! Even Superman and Wonder Woman can’t stop their plan for the Phantom Zone!
This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
Credit: DC Comics
SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #7
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art and cover by JIM LEE and SCOTT WILLIAMS
1:25 Variant cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN
1:50 Variant cover by ANDY KUBERT
1:100 B&W Variant cover by JIM LEE
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with five covers. Please see the order form for details.
It’s a rampage in the Batcave! It’s come to this: Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman against Wraith! Alone, they wouldn’t have a chance – but they don’t have much of one together, either! And all the while, Lex Luthor’s machinations are clicking into place…
This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
Credit: DC Comics
ACTION COMICS #28
Written by GREG PAK
Art and cover by AARON KUDER
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by DAVE JOHNSON
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
Who or what is the Ghost Soldier, and what mysterious ties does he have to The Man of Steel? Will he side with Superman as he is caught in the middle of the military’s battle with subterranean monsters?
Credit: DC Comics
SUPERMAN #28
Written by SCOTT LOBDELL
Art and cover by ED BENES
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by JEFF WAMESTER
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
A mysterious and powerful figure seeks The Man of Steel to join her against a threat coming to Earth. Plus: Sam Lane ascends to power, which makes him an even more formidable opponent for Superman.
Credit: DC Comics
SUPERBOY #28
Written by MARV WOLFMAN
Art by ANDRES GUINALDO and MARK IRWIN
Cover by RAFAEL SANDOVAL and NORM RAPMUND
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Superboy and his new team of unstable teen powerhouses must return to the present-day DC Universe to make sure Jon Lane Kent lives to see his plans come to fruition!
Credit: DC Comics
SUPERMAN: LOIS LANE #1
Written by MARGUERITE BENNETT
Art by EMANUELLA LUPACCHINO
Cover by KENNETH ROCAFORT
One-shot • On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T
Lois Lane is known for chasing down stories — but what happens when the story is her family? As her father gains more power in the government, Lois’s sister Lucy has become involved with a deadly drug scene! Meanwhile, Lois thought she was rid of the influence of Brainiac, but now she finds that the the computer tyrant of Colu is calling out to her again!
Credit: DC Comics
SUPERGIRL #28
Written by TONY BEDARD
Art by YILDIRAY CINAR and RAY McCARTHY
Cover by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI and CAM SMITH
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
A RED LANTERN RING is coming to get Kara — and it will change her forever! No lie! Not an imaginary story! It’s really going to happen! “Red Daughter of Krypton” starts here!
March's Batman #29 Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN #28
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art by GREG CAPULLO and DANNY MIKI
Cover by GREG CAPULLO
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by HOWARD CHAYKIN
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for details.
ZERO YEAR: DARK CITY reaches its conclusion! The final chapter of Zero Year is almost upon us, and we’ve saved the best for last! What corners of Batman’s past will be revealed? And how will they impact his very near future? Find out here!
This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
Credit: DC Comics
DETECTIVE COMICS #28
Written by JOHN LAYMAN
Art by AARON LOPRESTI
Cover by JASON FABOK
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by KLAUS JANSON
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with three covers. Please see the order form for details.
Welcome to Gothtopia! Die happy! The Scarecrow makes the ultimate bid for control of Gotham City’s citizens — so why is everybody so happy about it? Nothing is as it seems as the strange gets stranger in “Gothtopia,” part 2 of 3.
This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
Credit: DC Comics
BIRDS OF PREY #28
Written by CHRISTY MARX
Art by ROMANO MOLENAAR and JONATHAN GLAPION
Cover by JORGE MOLINA
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Welcome to Gothtopia! Die happy! Black Canary confronts Ra’s al Ghul – who makes her an offer that could save her husband! Is she willing to pay the ultimate price?
Credit: DC Comics
BATWING #28
Written by JUSTIN GRAY and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Art by EDUARDO PANSICA and JULIO FERREIRA
Cover by MIKE McKONE
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Welcome to Gothtopia! Die happy! A blast from Batwing’s past is back to menace him!
Credit: DC Comics
CATWOMAN #28
Written by ANN NOCENTI
Art by PATRICK OLLIFFE
Cover by TERRY DODSON and RACHEL DODSON
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
Welcome to Gothtopia! Die happy! As Catbird carries on the fight for justice even without the help of her beloved Batman, she finds herself facing a great mystery: Who is Catwoman?
Credit: DC Comics
BATGIRL #28
Written by GAIL SIMONE
Art by FERNANDO PASARIN and JONATHAN GLAPION
Cover by ALEX GARNER
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by J.G. JONES
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
It’s a hazardous reunion between Batgirl and the former Court of Owls assassin Strix as they face off against the lethal new threat known as Silver — the man who knows the secret of Gotham City’s conspiracy of bats!
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN AND TWO-FACE #28
Written by PETER J. TOMASI
Art and cover by PATRICK GLEASON and MICK GRAY
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by MATTEO SCALERA
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
“The Big Burn” concludes! In the final showdown, Batman, Two-Face and Erin McKillen fight for their lives against Gotham City’s united Mafiosi!
Credit: DC Comics
BATWOMAN #28
Written by MARC ANDREYKO
Art by JEREMY HAUN
Cover by TREVOR McCARTHY
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by DAVE JOHNSON
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
As Batwoman reels from Maggie’s surprising revelation last issue, the two must work together to discover the secret of the Wolf Spider. Who hired him and what are his deadly plans for Gotham?
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN: JOKER’S DAUGHTER #1
Written by MARGUERITE BENNETT
Art by MEGHAN HETRICK
Cover by GEORGES JEANTY
One-shot • On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 48 pg, FC, $4.99 US • RATED T
Who is The Joker’s Daughter? What horrors lurk in the mind of this deranged lunatic, and why is there more to her than meets the eye? More than just a crazy person who stumbled upon The Joker’s face, more than just a woman with a mission, The Joker’s Daughter sees herself as a woman on the path of greed, dominance and lordship over the Gotham Underground. This special issue tells a sordid tale in the life of one of DC’s most popular new villains!
Credit: DC Comics
NIGHTWING #28
Written by KYLE HIGGINS
Art by RUSSELL DATURMAN
Cover by WILL CONRAD
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by TOMMY LEE EDWARDS
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
All the sins of the past still haunt Nightwing. How can he make his peace with his old life if Gotham City won’t leave him alone?
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT #28
Written by GREGG HURWITZ
Art and cover by ETHAN VAN SCIVER
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Part one of a two-part story detailing the complex history of Dr. Kirk Langstrom, a.k.a. Man-Bat! How does Man-Bat’s past connect to Batman’s future?
Credit: DC Comics
HARLEY QUINN #3
Written by AMANDA CONNER and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Art by CHAD HARDIN
Cover by AMANDA CONNER and DAVE JOHNSON
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
It’s Valentine’s Day, and Harley is getting depressed watching happy couples walk by. Will a special gift from Poison Ivy turn things around for Harley?
Credit: DC Comics
TALON #16
Written by TIM SEELEY
Art by JORGE LUCAS
Cover by EMANUEL SIMEONI
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Calvin Rose must find a Lazarus Pit to bring himself back from the dead. But first he must fight another undead villain with the same notions: Lord Death Man!
Credit: DC Comics
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #28
Written by JAMES TYNION IV
Art and cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
The Outlaws head off for a well-earned rest as Jason tries to rekindle his romance with Isabelle – but they are soon fighting for their lives against a new cartel!
Credit: DC Comics
Credit: DC Comics
GREEN LANTERN/RED LANTERNS #28
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI and CHARLES SOULE
Art by BILLY TAN and ALESSANDRO VITTI
GREEN LANTERN Cover by BILLY TAN
RED LANTERNS Cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 48 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Combo pack edition: $3.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
Don’t miss this amazing flip-issue with two covers at a special price of just $2.99! This DOUBLE ISSUE contains both GREEN LANTERN #28 and RED LANTERNS #28! With dozens of sectors in open rebellion against the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan is faced with a crisis in the sector most important to him: 2814, home of Earth…as well as Ysmault, home of the Red Lanterns. Hal made a dangerous bargain with Guy Gardner, and now it’s time to pay up! Plus: Guy and the Red Lanterns take over policing Sector 2814! And you’ll want to keep reading RED LANTERNS next month to see what happens to their newest member: SUPERGIRL!
Credit: DC Comics
GREEN LANTERN CORPS #28
Written by VAN JENSEN
Art and cover by BERNARD CHANG
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by HOWARD CHAYKIN
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
The Green Lanterns are under siege from the secretive Durlans – so it’s time to find the one Lantern who knows all of the Durlans’ tricks! But how do you find a shapeshifter who could be anywhere in the universe? And when the Green Lanterns find out who their newest allies are, some of them might prefer no help at all!
Credit: DC Comics
GREEN LANTERN: NEW GUARDIANS #28
Written by JUSTIN JORDAN
Art and cover by BRAD WALKER and DREW HENNESSY
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by KLAUS JANSON
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
The fiery religion of the goddess X’Hal has brought peace to a star system that has only known conflict! Could this be the galactic paradise that Kyle Rayner and the New Guardians have been searching for? If it is, it won’t last long — because the mysterious beings known as The God-Killers have X’Hal — and Kyle — in their sights!
Credit: DC Comics
LARFLEEZE #8
Written by KEITH GIFFEN and J.M. DeMATTEIS
Art by SCOTT KOLINS
Cover by TYLER KIRKHAM
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Larfleeze has more than he knows what to do with – especially cosmic entities that want to kill him! But Larfleeze will brave it all if it means getting more, and getting his “butler,” Stargrave, back!
Credit: DC Comics
ALL-STAR WESTERN #28
Written by JUSTIN GRAY and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
Art by MORITAT
Cover by DARWYN COOKE
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T+
Old West meets modern medicine! Are Hex’s scars healed? Trapped in a future he’s still coming to grips with, Jonah Hex confronts his own history as he uncovers a museum dedicated to the scarred bounty hunter’s days in the Old West.
Credit: DC Comics
ANIMAL MAN #28
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art and cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
“Evolve or Die!” concludes as Animal Man marshals every last bit of power he has to protect his daughter from Brother Blood! But will it be enough to save Maxine and the Red — or will Buddy lose another child?
Credit: DC Comics
STORMWATCH #28
Written by JIM STARLIN
Art by YVEL GUICHET and LE BEAU UNDERWOOD
Cover by CHRIS BATISTA and LIVESAY
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
Extremax and Jenny return to Earth as the final battle with the Kollective looms on the horizon!
Credit: DC Comics
THE MOVEMENT #9
Written by GAIL SIMONE
Art by FREDDIE WILLIAMS II
Cover by RAGS MORALES
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
Batgirl comes to Coral City in pursuit of a superhuman who is trying to join the Movement! And Burden’s terrifying brother attempts to bring him back home and away from the influence of his friends!
Credit: DC Comics
SWAMP THING #28
Written by CHARLES SOULE
Art and cover by JAVI PINA
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T+
At last, the origin of the mysterious Capucine, including the revelation of the threat so deadly – it’s enough to make a thousand-year-old assassin run for help! Plus, the fateful decision Swamp Thing made last issue will have consequences that he – and the world – could never have seen coming!
Credit: DC Comics
TEEN TITANS #28
Written by SCOTT LOBDELL
Art by TYLER KIRKHAM and ART THIBERT
Cover by BRETT BOOTH and NORM RAPMUND
1:25 Steampunk variant cover by JASON PEARSON
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for details.
Kid Flash’s true history and motivations are revealed as he goes to war with his former teammates in the future he plans to rule.
Credit: DC Comics
HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE #11
Written by DAN ABNETT
Art by MICHAEL O’HARE
Cover by KEN LASHLEY
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US
Deep within the realm of Subternia and reeling from a shocking loss and shattering betrayal, He-Man is overcome and taken prisoner by a surprising enemy. The quest is abandoned and He-Man separated from his allies. He’s about to be made a sacrifice in his adversary’s plan to claim all Eternia.
Credit: DC Comics
ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #10
Written by JOSH ELDER and DEREK FRIDOLFS
Art by VICTOR IBANEZ and SEAN “CHEEKS” GALLOWAY
Cover by SEAN “CHEEKS” GALLOWAY
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST
In “Dear Superman,” Superman’s #1 fan watches from afar as the Last Son of Krypton battles an upgraded Metallo in the streets of Metropolis! And “In Care of,” illustrated by Sean “Cheeks” Galloway, introduces a young boy who needs Superman’s help to defeat a monster!
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE #6
Written by CLIFF CHIANG, DAVE TAYLOR, OLLY MOSS, ADAM HUGHES and DAVE JOHNSON
Art by CLIFF CHIANG, DAVE TAYLOR, BECKY CLOONAN, ADAM HUGHES and DAVE JOHNSON
Cover by DOUG MAHNKE
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 48 pg, B&W, 6 of 6, $4.99 US • RATED T
The final issue of the new BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE miniseries is here, with stories written and illustrated by Cliff Chiang, Dave Taylor, Olly Moss and Becky Cloonan, Adam Hughes and Dave Johnson!
Credit: DC Comics
SCRIBBLENAUTS UNMASKED: A CRISIS OF IMAGINATION #2
Written by JOSH ELDER
Art by ADAM ARCHER and BEN BATES
Cover by ADAM ARCHER
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E •DIGITAL FIRST
Maxwell and Lily travel to Metropolis, where they find a mob of Superman protesters led by—Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen?! The Man of Steel has no idea why they have turned against him, so it’s up to the Scribblenauts and the Justice League to solve this puzzle!
Credit: DC Comics
SMALLVILLE SEASON 11: ALIEN #3
Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER
Art by EDGAR SALAZAR, DYM and ROB LEAN
Cover by CAT STAGGS
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 40 pg, FC, 3 of 4, $3.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST
Lex Luthor is determined to bring the Monitor to his knees, but the fight isn’t going his way—even Superman is having trouble with the alien interloper. Meanwhile, back in the USA, Chloe and Lois take a trip to Gotham City to check on a death so mysterious, Batman is having trouble figuring it out!
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN ‘66 #8
Written by JEFF PARKER
Art by RUBEN PROCOPIO
Cover by MICHAEL ALLRED
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED E • DIGITAL FIRST
From the sands of the ages and halls of higher learning comes one of Batman’s deadliest foes – King Tut! Tut returns to Gotham City to assert his royal status and challenge the Dynamic Duo with his most far reaching plan yet to rule the modern Thebes known as Gotham City!
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN BEYOND UNIVERSE #7
Written by KYLE HIGGINS and CHRISTOS N. GAGE
Art by THONY SILAS and IBAN COELLO
Cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 48 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST
Terry and Bruce are forced to work together to take down one of Batman’s oldest foes...but will their strained relationship prevent them from completing their mission? Plus, after last issue’s stunning revelation about Brainiac’s plan, the Justice League enlists the help of new and old allies from all over the world!
Credit: DC Comics
INJUSTICE YEAR TWO #2
Written by TOM TAYLOR
Art and cover by JHEREMY RAAPACK
1:10 DC Collectibles variant cover
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T • DIGITAL FIRST
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
With Batman out of action, a grieving Black Canary begins to assemble her own team to combat Superman’s new world order. And Earth’s heroes aren’t the only ones concerned about the Man of Steel’s rule. Word is spreading across the galaxy. Powerful beings across the stars turn their attention towards Earth.
Credit: DC Comics
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES #2
Written by B. CLAY MOORE
Art by TONY SHASTEEN
Cover by CAT STAGGS
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US • DIGITAL FIRST
In “Home for the Holidays,” when Stefan makes a clandestine Christmas visit to Mystic Falls, his battles against an unexpected group of vampires distract him from the town’s Winter Party. But his Uncle Zach, worried about high school sophomore Elena Gilbert, takes matters (and a sprig of vervain!) into his own hands anyway. Then, see how Alaric Saltzman began his training as a vampire hunter!
Credit: DC Comics
JUSTICE LEAGUE VOL. 4: THE GRID HC
Written by GEOFF JOHNS
Art by IVAN REIS, JOE PRADO, JESUS SAIZ, ZANDER CANNON, GENE HA, ANDRES GUINALDO and others
Cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
On sale APRIL 2 • 176 pg, FC, $24.99 US
These amazing tales from JUSTICE LEAGUE #18-20 and 22-23 lead into “Trinity War,” and spotlight Cyborg, Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman! Plus: Learn the secret behind Pandora’s Box!
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN/SUPERMAN VOL. 1: CROSS WORLD HC
Written by GREG PAK
Art by JAE LEE, BEN OLIVER, YILDIRAY
CINAR, BRETT BOOTH and NORM RAPMUND
Cover by JAE LEE
On sale APRIL 30 • 144 pg, FC, $22.99 US
The Dark Knight and The Man of Steel are close friends in the modern day – but the two weren’t always such close allies. In this first hardcover collecting BATMAN/ SUPERMAN #1-4 and JUSTICE LEAGUE #23.1: DARKSEID, learn how these two legends met for the first time in The New 52 as they launch into a mysterious adventure that takes them to the world of Earth 2!
Credit: DC Comics
BATWOMAN VOL. 4: THIS BLOOD IS THICK TP
Written by J.H. WILLIAMS and W. HADEN BLACKMAN
Art by TREVOR McCARTHY and FRANCESCO FRANCAVILLA
Cover by J.H. WILLIAMS III
On sale MARCH 26 • 192 pg, FC, $14.99 US
After taking down Medusa, Batwoman is caught in the crossfire between Batman and the D.E.O. in these stories from issues #18-24! The organization has their sights set on the Dark Knight and could be using Batwoman to capture him. But is Batman the true threat?
Credit: DC Comics
BATWOMAN VOL. 3: WORLD’S FINEST TP
Written by J.H. WILLIAMS and W. HADEN BLACKMAN
Art by J.H. WILLIAMS and TREVOR McCARTHY
Cover by J.H. WILLIAMS III
On sale MARCH 26 • 168 pg, FC, $14.99 US
Batwoman’s search for Medusa brings her together with Wonder Woman in these stories from issues #12-17 and #0, but even this team might not be enough to bring down the mythological monster, as Bones, the DEO, Abbot and the Religion of Crime all descend on Gotham City to take part in the fight.
Credit: DC Comics
ANIMAL MAN VOL. 4: SPLINTER SPECIES TP
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art by STEVE PUGH, FRANCIS PORTELA, JOHN PAUL LEON and others
Cover by JAE LEE
On sale MARCH 5 • 144 pg, FC, $14.99 US
Following the loss of his son, Buddy Baker finds he can’t mourn in peace without constant media intrusions that his newfound fame as an actor have brought about. But Buddy must rise to the challenge when a new and horrifying species called The Splinterfolk appears. This volume collects issues #20-23 and ANIMAL MAN ANNUAL #2.
Credit: DC Comics
EARTH 2 VOL. 3: WAR HC
Written by JAMES ROBINSON, PAUL LEVITZ and TOM TAYLOR
Art by NICOLA SCOTT, TREVOR SCOTT, YILDIRAY CINAR and others
Cover by JUAN DOE
On sale APRIL 9 • 160 pg, FC, $22.99 US
The heroes of Earth 2 take on the forces of Steppenwolf and the Hunger Dogs of Apokolips when all hope is lost in these stories from EARTH 2 #13-19,EARTH 2 ANNUAL #1 and EARTH 2 #15.1: DESAAD. Now a new Batman enters the fray, but is he enough to turn the tide and stop Darkseid?
Credit: DC Comics
GREEN LANTERN VOL. 4: DARK DAYS HC
Written by ROBERT VENDITTI
Art by BILLY TAN, DALE EAGLESHAM, RAGS MORALES, RICHARD FRIEND, ROB HUNTER, CAM SMITH and JON SIBAL
Cover by BILLY TAN
On sale APRIL 23 • 200 pg, FC, $24.99 US
In this first collection from the new GREEN LANTERN team of writer Robert Venditti and artist Billy Tan from issues #21-26, GREEN LANTERN #23.1: RELIC, and GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #2, Hal Jordan becomes the leader of the most feared and hated group in the universe: The Green Lantern Corps! And while Hal struggles with his new role as leader of the Green Lantern Corps, he must solve the mystery of why the universe is atrophying! All this leads into “LIGHTS OUT,” as Relic arrives on Oa to douse the central Power Battery forever!
Credit: DC Comics
GREEN LANTERN: RISE OF THE THIRD ARMY TP
Written by GEOFF JOHNS, PETER J. TOMASI, PETER MILLIGAN and TONY BEDARD
Art by DOUG MAHNKE, CHRISTIAN ALAMY, CAFU, FERNANDO PASARIN, SCOTT HANNA, MIGUEL SEPULVEDA, ANDREI BRESSAN, AMILCAR PINNA and AARON KUDER
Cover by IVAN REIS and JOE PRADO
On sale MARCH 19 • 416 pg, FC, $24.99 US
The universe is in shambles and the Guardians are the cause in this epic from GREEN LANTERN #13-16, GREEN LANTERN CORPS #13-16, GREEN LANTERN CORPS ANNUAL #1, RED LANTERNS #13-16 and GREEN LANTERNS: NEW GUARDIANS #13-16! The mysterious Third Army has risen across the cosmos like a plague, destroying everything in its path—and Hal Jordan and Sinestro are nowhere to be found. Now, it’s up to new Green Lantern Simon Baz to become the hero that the Corps needs!
Credit: DC Comics
TRINITY OF SIN—PANDORA VOL. 1: THE CURSE TP
Written by RAY FAWKES
Art by DANIEL SAMPERE, VICENTE CIFUENTES and FRANCIS PORTELA
Cover by RYAN SOOK
On sale MARCH 19 • 144 pg, FC, $14.99 US
In these stories from issues #1-6 of Pandora’s new series, tying into “TRINITY WAR,”as the heroes and villains of the DCU hunt for Pandora, she embarks on a quest to destroy the Seven Deadly Sins and free the earth from their influence!
Credit: DC Comics
TRINITY OF SIN—THE PHANTOM STRANGER VOL. 2: BREACH OF FAITH TP
Written by J.M. DeMATTEIS and DAN DIDIO
Art by GENE HA, ZANDER
CANNON, PHILIP TAN, FERNANDO BLANCO and others
Cover by GUILLEM MARCH • On sale MARCH 5 • 144 pg, FC, $14.99 US
The Phantom Stranger is sucked into a metaphysical poker game against the sons of Trigon! And on the eve of “TRINITY WAR,” the Stranger is forced to make the most difficult choice he’s faced in thousands of years walking in the wilderness. Collecting issues #6-11.
Credit: DC Comics
GREEN ARROW VOL. 4: THE KILL MACHINE TP
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art and cover by ANDREA SORRENTINO
On sale MARCH 19 • 192 pg, FC, $16.99 US
In these stories from GREEN ARROW #17-24, a mysterious villain called Komodo knows Oliver Queens’s secrets and uses them to rob Oliver of all his wealth and his company. Now on the run from this seemingly unstoppable force, Ollie finds himself in a mystery involving his father and the island where he first became Green Arrow! Everything will change for the Emerald Archer in this new beginning for the character.
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN ‘66 VOL. 1 HC
Written by JEFF PARKER
Art by JONATHAN CASE, TY TEMPLETON, JOE QUINONES, SANDY JARRELL, RUBEN PROCOPIO, COLLEEN COOVER and others
Cover by MICHAEL ALLRED
On sale APRIL 2 • 176 pg, FC, $19.99 US
Put on your go-go boots and get ready to “Batusi” back to the Swingin’ 60s as DC Comics reimagines the classic Batman TV show! In this hardcover collecting issues #1-5 of the hit series, The Dynamic Duo takes on The Riddler, Mr. Freeze, The Penguin, The Mad Hatter, The Joker, and more of the world’s most colorful Bat-villains!
Credit: DC Comics
CATWOMAN VOL. 3: UNDER PRESSURE TP
Written by ED BRUBAKER
Art by PAUL GULACY, JIMMY PALMIOTTI, SEAN PHILLIPS, STEFANO GAUDIANO and DIEGO OLMOS
Cover by PAUL GULACY and JIMMY PALMIOTTI
On sale MARCH 26 • 312 pg, FC, $24.99 US
In these tales from CATWOMAN #25-37, gangwar leads to a kidnapping that affects one of Selina’s friends – but when she tries to trace the kidnappers, she ends up fighting the Penguin and a ruthless, cybernetically enhanced Mafia enforcer known as Zeiss.
Credit: DC Comics
WONDER WOMAN VOL. 3: IRON TP
Written by BRIAN AZZARELLO
Art by CLIFF CHIANG, TONY AKINS, DAN GREEN and AMILCAR PINNA
Cover by CLIFF CHIANG
On sale MARCH 12 • 176 pg, FC, $16.99 US
In these stories from issues #0 and #13-18, a terrible betrayal forces Wonder Woman to make a deal with the gods who want her dead, and her “family” grows larger than she could have imagined. Will the mysterious Orion help Wonder Woman rescue Zola’s baby from the clutches of Hermes, or does he have darker intentions?
Credit: DC Comics
SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE VOL. 2 TP
Written by J. MICHAEL STRACZYNSKI
Art and cover by SHANE DAVIS and SANDRA HOPE
On sale MARCH 26 • 128 pg, FC, $14.99 US
The highly anticipated sequel to the #1 New York Times best-selling graphic novel SUPERMAN: EARTH ONE by acclaimed writer J. Michael Straczynski and superstar artist Shane Davis is now available in trade paperback! Young Clark Kent continues his journey toward becoming the World’s Greatest Super Hero but finds dealing with humanity to be a bigger challenge than he ever imagined! From a ruthless dictator to a new love interest who’s NOT Lois Lane, things are never easy for this emerging Man of Steel. And the worst is yet to come, in the form of a man-monster with an insatiable appetite, the Parasite! The only thing that might appease his hunger is The Last Son of Krypton!
Credit: DC Comics
JUSTICE LEAGUE BEYOND: IN GODS WE TRUST TP
Written by DEREK FRIDOLFS, DUSTIN NGUYEN and J.T. KRUL
Art by DUSTIN NGUYEN, HOWARD PORTER and others
Cover by HOWARD
PORTER and LIVESAY • On sale MARCH 12 • 208 pg, FC, $17.99 US
In these stories from BATMAN BEYOND UNLIMITED #10-17, Sector 2814’s newest Green Lantern has been posing as a student to expose a secret organization called The Brain Trust that is brainwashing young students and training them to destory the Justice League.
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN: BRUCE WAYNE — MURDERER? TP NEW EDITION
Written by various
Art by various
Cover by DAVE JOHNSON
On sale MARCH 12 • 552 pg, FC, $29.99 US
This new, expanded edition of the classic Batman title collects BATGIRL #24, 27, BATMAN #599-602, BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #25-28, BATMAN: THE 10-CENT ADVENTURE #1, BIRDS OF PREY #39, 40-41, 43, DETECTIVE COMICS #766-767, NIGHTWING #65-66, 68-69 and ROBIN #98-99.
Credit: DC Comics
DC COMICS PRESENTS: HARLEY QUINN #1
Written by PAUL DINI, JAMES PATRICK, MARIS WICKS and others
Art by YVEL GUICHET, BRUCE TIMM, RONNIE DEL CARMEN, JOE QUINONES, ROB HAYNES and others • Cover by ALEX ROSS
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 96 pg, FC, $7.99 US
The Joker’s deadly sweetie stars in this new title collecting BATMAN: HARLEY QUINN #1, JOKER’S ASYLUM II: HARLEY QUINN #1, and stories from BATMAN: GOTHAM KNIGHTS #14, COUNTOWN #10, BATMAN GOTHAM KNIGHTS #30 and BATMAN BLACK AND WHITE #1.
Credit: DC Comics
HARLEY QUINN: WELCOME TO METROPOLIS TP
Written by KARL KESEL
Art by TERRY DODSON, RACHEL DODSON, PHIL NOTO, CRAIG ROUSSEAU and others
Cover by TERRY DODSON and RACHEL DODSON
On sale MARCH 5 • 288 pg, FC, $19.99 US
In this new Harley collection, HQ heads to Metropolis with allies Poison Ivy and Bizarro in tow! Collecting HARLEY QUINN #14-25.
Credit: DC Comics
SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 VOL. 4: ARGO TP
Written by BRYAN Q. MILLER
Art by DANIEL HDR and CAT STAGGS
Cover by CAT STAGGS
On sale MARCH 12 • 160 pg, FC, $14.99 US
In these stories from issues #13-15 and SMALLVILLE SEASON 11 SPECIAL #2, Clark Kent finds himself transported to the future, where he meets the greatest heroes of the 31st Century: Booster Gold and the Legion of Super-Heroes! But it’s not just a social call: Superman must stop war between Earth and a stunning villain!
Credit: DC Comics
SHOWCASE PRESENTS: JONAH HEX VOL. 2 TP
Written by MICHAEL FLEISCHER
Art by DAN SPIEGLE, DICK AYERS, TONY DEZUNIGA and more
Cover by JOSE LUIS GARCIA-LOPEZ
On sale MARCH 19 • 544 pg, B&W, $19.99 US
This new HEX collection includes tales of Christmas in the Wild West, Hex’s deadly battles with U.S. troops and native Americans, plus forces of the supernatural, a shotgun wedding and more! Collects WEIRD WESTERN
TALES #34-38 and JONAH HEX #1-22!
Credit: DC Comics
BEWARE THE BATMAN #5
Written by MIKE W. BARR
Art and cover by DARIO BRIZUELA
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E
When a Katana copycat kills a member of the mob, the real Katana enlists Batman’s help to clear her name and find out the true identity of the assassin—someone from her own past!
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN: LI’L GOTHAM #11
Written by DEREK FRIDOLFS and DUSTIN NGUYEN
Art and cover by DUSTIN NGUYEN
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E • DIGITAL FIRST
On All Souls Day, Bruce Wayne takes his son Damian to mom’s house for a supervised visit — until an engine explosion makes their jet crash! But that’s hardly the worst thing fate tries to throw at them! And when Gotham “falls back” for Daylight Savings Time, the Clock King plots to control time…and the world!
Credit: DC Comics
TEEN TITANS GO! #2
Written by SHOLLY FISCH and MERRILL HAGEN
Art by LEA HERNANDEZ and JORGE CORONA
Cover by DAN HIPP
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E
When Starfire signs the team up for the popular reality show contest, I’ve Got Your Talent Right Here, Robin becomes determined to show the world just how talented the Teen Titans really are! Then, after a fight with Captain Cold, Beast Boy and Robin come down with a cold themselves! Running high fevers and quarantined from the rest of the Titans...the madness begins to set in!
Credit: DC Comics
LOONEY TUNES #217
Written by SCOTT GROSS
Art by ROBERT POPE and SCOTT McRAE
Cover by SCOTT GROSS
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E
When Elmer Fudd invades the idyllic serenity of Bugs Bunny’s pastoral home, he brings along thousands of music fans and sets up a music festival! Now that Bugs can’t listen to his carrot-needled phonograph under the hail of noise, a confrontation is bound to set off sparks!
MAD #526
Written and illustrated by THE USUAL GANG OF IDIOTS
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 56 pg, FC, $5.99 US
Stay warm this winter! Buy multiple copies of the new MAD—you can use the extras as insulation!
Credit: DC Comics
SCOOBY-DOO, WHERE ARE YOU? #42
Written by GEORGIA BALL
Art and cover by SCOTT JERALDS
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED E
Is the Lady in Pink haunting Pollard House the ghost of Sarah Pollard herself, or the kindly cookie-baking housekeeper? Mystery Inc. and a reality TV crew have competing theories, but Shaggy and Scooby are sticking around for the baked goods!
Credit: DC Comics
THE ROYALS: MASTERS OF WAR #1
Written by ROB WILLIAMS
Art by SIMON COLEBY
Cover by SIMON COLEBY
1:13 Variant cover by BRIAN BOLLAND
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, 1 of 6, $2.99 US • MATURE READERS
Retailers: This issue will ship with two covers. Please see the order form for more information.
The year is 1940. As the Blitz destroys London and kills thousands, the Royal Family looks on. But in this world, the only people with special abilities are Royalty, and the purer the bloodline, the greater their abilities. So why don’t they stop the carnage with their powers? A truce between the Earth’s nobles has kept them out of our wars—until now. When England’s Prince Henry can take no more and intervenes, will it stop the planet’s suffering or take it to another level?
Writer Rob Williams (Judge Dredd: Trifecta, Low Life, ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN and Daken) and artist Simon Coleby (The Authority, Judge Dredd: Year One and Trifecta) team up to bring you this epic of World War proportions. History will be transformed in a way you’ve never seen before.
Credit: DC Comics
THE SANDMAN: OVERTURE #2
Written by NEIL GAIMAN
Art by J.H. WILLIAMS III
Cover A by J.H. WILLIAMS III
Cover B by DAVE McKEAN
1:100 B&W Variant cover by J.H. WILLIAMS III
1:200 B&W Variant cover by DAVE McKEAN
RESOLICIT • On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, 3 of 6, $3.99 US • MATURE READERS
Combo pack edition: $4.99 US
Retailers: This issue will ship with five covers. Please see the order form for more information. This issue is resolicited. All previous orders are cancelled.
In which Daniel enters Mad Hettie’s dream and Morpheus discovers why he has been summoned and what he has been summoned to do. This issue is also offered as a combo pack edition with a redemption code for a digital download of this issue.
Credit: DC Comics
DEAD BOY DETECTIVES #3
Written by MARK BUCKINGHAM and TOBY LITT
Art by MARK BUCKINGHAM and GARY ERSKINE
Cover by MARK BUCKINGHAM
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • RATED T
Dead British schoolboys Charles and Edwin finally locate their old bones, but what secrets do they hold? New detective Crystal is the only one who can find out by way of her major tech skills. But it might involve a trip inside a computer game called Yonda, where all is not as bright and colorful as it seems.
Credit: DC Comics
COFFIN HILL #5
Written by CAITLIN KITTREDGE
Art by INAKI MIRANDA
Cover by DAVE JOHNSON
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • MATURE READERS
In the penultimate issue of the first storyline, we learn the nasty truth about the darkness that Eve Coffin unleashed in her hometown so long ago. But will Eve able to make the ultimate sacrifice to save what few friends she has left?
Credit: DC Comics
ASTRO CITY: THROUGH OPEN DOORS HC
Written by KURT BUSIEK
Art by BRENT ANDERSON
Cover by ALEX ROSS
On sale APRIL 9 • 192 pg, FC, $24.99 US
The first collection from the new run of ASTRO CITY is here, featuring issues #1-6 of the acclaimed series! As the story begins, a mysterious door appears, heralding the arrival of the Ambassador. But when an ordinary man is caught in a cosmic conflict, it is up to favorites like Samaritan and Honor Guard, as well as new heroes, to rise to the occasion and save the world! Plus: a look at a woman who uses her super-powers to help bring adventure to the silver screen and more!
Credit: DC Comics
HINTERKIND #5
Written by IAN EDGINTON
Art by FRANCESCO TRIFOGLI
Cover by GREG TOCCHINI
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • MATURE READERS
Don’t miss out on the book IGN praises as “weird. And then, once you’ve accepted that level of weird, it just keeps getting weirder.” There’s no predicting what twists and turns writer Ian Edginton will take in this story that Bloody Disgusting calls “Fast-moving and action-packed…[HINTERKIND] takes readers on an entertaining ride through the apocalypse.” And that apocalypse is not even close to what anyone could ever imagine. Keep reading to see how Starla, the bad fairy, and Jubal, her ogre sidekick, escape the subterranean city, while Sidhe Queen Telsche revels in her West Coast Kingdom before her power is slowly stripped away.
Credit: DC Comics
ASTRO CITY #9
Written by KURT BUSIEK
Art by BRENT ANDERSON
Cover by ALEX ROSS
On sale FEBRUARY 12 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • RATED T
The puppet master behind the attacks on Winged Victory is revealed—though it may be too late for even Samaritan and the Confessor’s aid to be any use. But Winged Victory finds an unexpected ally, one who gives her a new perspective on the crisis. And then there’s Joey…
Credit: DC Comics
DAYTRIPPER DELUXE EDITION HC
Written by GABRIEL BA and FABIO MOON
Art by FABIO MOON and GABRIEL BA
Cover by GABRIEL BA
On sale APRIL 16 • 272 pg, FC, 7.0625” x 10.875”, $34.99 US • MATURE READERS
What are the most important days of your life? Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá answer that question in this new deluxe edition hardcover of the hit 10-issue miniseries that won praise from such comics veterans as Terry Moore, Craig Thompson and Jeff Smith. Follow aspiring writer Brás de Oliva Domingos as each chapter of DAYTRIPPER peers in at a completely different moment in his life. Moon and Bá tell a beautifully lyrical tale chronicling Domingos’s entire existence – from his loves to his deaths and all the possibilities in between.
Credit: DC Comics
DEATH TP
Written by NEIL GAIMAN
Art by CHRIS BACHALO, MARK BUCKINGHAM, MIKE DRINGENBERG, MALCOLM JONES III, MARK PENNINGTON, COLLEEN DORAN, DAVE McKEAN and JEFFREY JONES
Cover by DAVE McKEAN
On sale MARCH 19 • 320 pg, FC, $19.99 US • MATURE READERS
This new trade paperback collects Neil Gaiman’s DEATH: THE HIGH COST OF LIVING #1-3, DEATH: THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE #1-3! Also included are extras like “Death Talks about Life” AIDS pamphlet, stories from VERTIGO: WINTER’S EDGE #2 and THE SANDMAN: ENDLESS NIGHTS, the short story “The Wheel” from the 9-11 tribute book, SANDMAN #8 and #20, and art from the DEATH GALLERY!
Credit: DC Comics
FAIREST #23
Written by MARC ANDREYKO
Art by SHAWN McMANUS
Cover by ADAM HUGHES
Resolicit • On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • MATURE READERS
“Of Men and Mice” continues as Cinderella’s search for answers takes her from Amsterdam to India! Who is the mysterious figure living in the Temple of the Rats, and how does his story tie into Cinderella’s fateful night at the Ball so many years ago? This chapter features revenge, magic, conspiracy, sex, and, of course, lots of rodentia! Plus: Hey, who is that guy? And why is he literally blue?
Retailers: This issue is resolicited. All previous orders are canceled.
Credit: DC Comics
FABLES #138
Written by BILL WILLINGHAM
Art by RUSS BRAUN
Cover by CHRISTOPHER MOELLER
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US • MATURE READERS
Geppetto is up to his naughty tricks in a stand-alone story that fills in the gaps of an event that happened in Fabletown long ago. Snow White, Sir Woldred and Grandfather Oak guest-star in “Root and Branch,” illustrated by guest artist Russ Braun.
Credit: DC Comics
AMERICAN VAMPIRE VOL. 5 TP
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE and DUSTIN NGUYEN
Cover by RAFAEL ALBUQUERQUE
On sale MARCH 26 • 280 pg, FC, $16.99 US • MATURE READERS
Skinner Sweet, Pearl and company return to Hollywood in the ‘50s during the Red Scare. In a time when America was on the lookout for the next Communist threat, was the real danger far more insidious? Plus: Retired vampire hunter Felicia Book is called back into action to kill the most powerful vampire of all time. Collecting #28-34 of the monthly series, plus the 5-issue miniseries AMERICAN VAMPIRE: LORD OF NIGHTMARES.
Credit: DC Comics
LUCIFER BOOK THREE TP
Written by MIKE CAREY
Art by PETER GROSS, RYAN KELLY, MARC HEMPEL, RONALD WIMBERLY and others
Cover by CHRISTOPHER MOELLER
On sale MARCH 12 • 400 pg, FC, $29.99 US • MATURE READERS
A deadly new threat to all of Creation emerges and battle lines are drawn in these stories from LUCIFER #46-61. As forces in Hell and on Earth prepare for a final struggle for supremacy, we venture across time and space and even places in between to follow the path of the players in the battle to come.
Credit: DC Comics
HELLBLAZER: SHOOT TP
Written by JASON AARON, BRIAN AZZARELLO, JAMIE DELANO, WARREN ELLIS and others
Art by SEAN MURPHY, SEAN PHILLIPS, PHIL JIMENEZ and others
Cover by TIM BRADSTREET
On sale MARCH 5 • 168 pg, FC, $14.99 US • MATURE READERS
In these stories, John Constantine faces school violence, a desperate, occult family and more. Plus: A group of documentary filmmakers tries to find out what happened to the punk band led by Constantine that met a mysterious end. Collects HELLBLAZER #144, 145, 245, 246, the gala issue #250 and VERTIGO RESURRECTED: HELLBLAZER – SHOOT #1.
Credit: DC Comics
THE WAKE #6
Written by SCOTT SNYDER
Art by SEAN MURPHY
Cover by ANDREW ROBINSON
On sale FEBRUARY 26 • 32 pg, FC, 6 of 10, $2.99 US • MATURE READERS
“My name is Leeward, and this is where my story begins...”
Our story jumps two hundred years into a flooded future where nothing is the same. The second half of THE WAKE starts here!
Credit: DC Comics
THE UNWRITTEN VOL. 2: APOCALYPSE #2
Written by MIKE CAREY
Art by PETER GROSS
Cover by YUKO SHIMIZU
On sale FEBRUARY 19 • 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US • MATURE READERS
In the ruins of a post-literary world, Richie and Lizzie go in search of their lost friend Tom Taylor. But to find him, they’ll have to venture into the most dangerous place on Earth: London.
Credit: DC Comics
TRILLIUM #7
Written by JEFF LEMIRE
Art and cover by JEFF LEMIRE
On sale FEBRUARY 5 • 32 pg, FC, 7 of 8, $2.99 US • MATURE READERS
The penultimate issue of Vertigo’s acclaimed sci-fi epic is here, and Nika and William are out of time—literally! The last love story ever told nears its conclusion...but what waits beyond the end of the universe? You’ll have to read to find out!
Credit: DC Comics
Credit: DC Comics
Credit: DC Comics
DC COMICS — THE NEW 52 TEEN TITANS KID FLASH, SUPERBOY & WONDER GIRL ACTION FIGURES
From the pages of Teen Titans, comes Superboy alongside Kid Flash and Wonder Girl. Based on designs by artist Brett Booth, these three are ready to battle whatever comes next!
WONDER GIRL – 6.6"
SUPERBOY – 6.6"
KID FLASH – 6.5"
* Action Figures * $24.95 US • On Sale May 2014 * Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN BLACK & WHITE HARLEY QUINN STATUE
DESIGNED BY BRUCE TIMM
SCULPTED BY JON MATTHEWS
The fun-loving, psychotic, Arkham Asylum doctor turned-inmate Harley Quinn joins the best-selling Batman Black & White line with this stunning statue designed by the character's co-creator, award-winning animator, artist, and producer, Bruce Timm!
Limited Edition of 5,200
Measures Approximately 7.4" Tall
$79.95 US • On Sale May 2014 * Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
DC COMICS BOMBSHELLS BLACK CANARY STATUE
DESIGNED BY ANT LUCIA
SCULPTED BY SAM GREENWELL
The hit statue line introduced in 2012, continues with this striking statue of Black Canary. Modeled after the pin-ups of the 1940's.
Limited Edition of 5200
Measures Approximately 10.6" Tall
* $124.95 US * On Sale May 2014 * Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
Credit: DC Comics
Credit: DC Comics
Credit: DC Comics
Credit: DC Comics
JUSTICE LEAGUE WAR WONDER WOMAN, THE FLASH, SUPERMAN, SHAZAM! AND GREEN LANTERN ACTION FIGURES
These new action figures inspired by the upcoming animated movie Justice League War are part of the first wave of an all-new line from DC Collectibles!
SUPERMAN – 6.75"
SHAZAM! – 6.75"
THE FLASH – 6.75"
GREEN LANTERN – 6.75"
WONDER WOMAN – 6.75"
* Action Figures * $19.95 US • On Sale May 2014 * Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
DC COMICS ICONS CYBORG 1:6 SCALE STATUE
SCULPTED BY GENTLE GIANT STUDIOS
The sports superstar turned superhero Victor Stone is capable of infiltrating any computer network as the half-man, half-machine hero Cyborg. Now he's ready to infiltrate your home with this stunning statue from DC Collectibles.
Limited Edition of 5200
Measures Approximately 11" Tall
* $99.95 US * On Sale May 2014 * Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
DC COMICS SUPER-VILLAINS ARMORED SUIT LEX LUTHOR DELUXE ACTION FIGURE
LEX LUTHOR – 8.5"
FEATURES REMOVABLE HELMET
Superman's greatest arch-nemesis, Lex Luthor, always demands the best—and now you can have the best with this all-new deluxe action figure based on the evil genius's appearance as part of DC Comics—The New 52!
$34.95 US • On Sale May 2014
* Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
DC COMICS SUPER HEROES GREEN ARROW BUST DESIGNED BY JIM LEE
SCULPTED BY JAMES SHOOP
Your collection will score a bull’s-eye with this awe inspiring bust of the Emerald Archer, Green Arrow!
Limited Edition of 2500
Measures Approximately 5.5" Tall
$49.95 US • On Sale May 2014 * Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
BATMAN: ARKHAM ORIGINS KILLER CROC SERIES 2: DELUXE ACTION FIGURE
Inspired by the designs from the hit Batman: Arkham Origins video game, which introduces an original prequel storyline set several years before Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, it’s Killer Croc, the final figure in Series 2!
KILLER CROC – 10"
* Deluxe Action Figure * $24.95 US
• On Sale March 2014 * Allocations May Occur
Credit: DC Comics
Credit: DC Comics
SUPERMAN POOL CUES: SUPERMAN BLACK & SUPERMAN ICONIC
The first product in an exciting new line of lifestyle products from DC Collectibles highlights the Man of Steel! Produced in partnership with McDermott, the leading manufacturer of billiard and pool cues, each Superman pool cue comes with its own carrying case.
$199.95 US • On Sale May 2014
EACH SOLD SEPARATELY * Allocations May Occur
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Pope Francis listens to a speech during a meeting with clergy at St Mary’s School in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, Nov. 26, 2015. (Osservatore Romano/Reuters)
This week, Pope Francis is on a three-country tour of Africa, with stops in Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic. His public addresses in Kenya have focused on, among other themes, his well-known support for redistribution and compassion toward the poor. He has called for Kenyans to ”show genuine concern for the needs of the poor” and for achieving “a just distribution of the natural and human resources.”
This message is not unfamiliar to Christians in Africa. The Catholic Church has historically played and continues to play a major role in social spending and poverty-alleviation on the continent. But a growing number of African Christians are embracing churches that pursue a very different approach to poverty.
In a forthcoming article in the journal African Affairs, we investigated the approach to poverty by Pentecostal and charismatic churches, currently the fastest growing set of churches in Africa. According to the World Christian Database, in some majority Christian countries, Pentecostals now make up a fifth to half of the population. While there is a significant Catholic community in Kenya, Pew has estimated that in recent years as many as 7 in 10 Protestants there can be classified as Pentecostal or charismatic.
To learn more about these churches, we interviewed (with research assistants) the pastors of a sample of Pentecostal and charismatic churches in Kenya’s capital Nairobi about their congregations and their poverty-related activities. We also collected sermon texts and recordings, or observed worship services where no sermon recordings were available.
We were particularly interested in the role Pentecostal churches play in social service provision, given the reputation of Catholic and mainline Protestant churches in Africa, which regularly run schools, clinics, and nutrition programs. In fact, it is estimated that the Catholic Church provides between 40 and 70 percent of all education and health services in sub-Saharan Africa. In Kenya, both the Catholic and mainline Protestant churches have remained heavily involved with social welfare provision since independence.
By contrast, in our sample of Pentecostal churches, only a handful reported providing any kind of regular, institutionalized spending on the poor. Others reported occasional provision of health services (in the form of medical “camps”) or food donations, and some reported helping congregants out financially in dire emergencies, but regular spending on the poor was rare. Instead, the majority of Pentecostal and charismatic churches we studied reported providing financial counseling and “entrepreneurship” seminars to help congregants find a way to make their lives better without relying on the church or government for financial support.
This lack of social welfare spending is consistent with what is said in the sermons we collected. The sermons repeatedly drew attention to the role of each individual in making a better life for herself. “You need to get out of a … mindset of looking for someone to give you something,” one of the sermons argues. “Start looking at yourself as successful,” exclaims another. “Go and succeed, build, live well, get a job in the name of Jesus.” Each listener is regularly reminded of her own worth in the eyes of God. She is encouraged to believe that she can achieve whatever she sets out to. Her goals might be financial, or they might be related to family, health, her profession or any other sphere of life. (In fact, in contrast to conventional wisdom that these churches are primarily about getting rich quickly, we find a striking number of warnings in the sermons against focusing exclusively on material possessions.) Whatever the goals, handouts are not the solution. Self-confidence, faith and positive thinking are. Each individual is responsible for lifting herself up through faith.
Our research confirmed that these churches and their congregations are demographically diverse. They range from mega-churches in affluent suburbs to small, temporary structures in slums. But, remarkably, the approach to poverty did not vary much from congregation to congregation.
What are the consequences of this individualistic approach to poverty? In related research based at the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics in Nairobi, we randomly assigned participants in a lab study to listen to different audio recordings and later gave them a chance to participate in a text message political campaign. One of the audio recordings sounded very much like the papal message, asking listeners to think of others and to care for the poor. Another audio recording instead sounded like the Pentecostal sermons, telling listeners to remember their God-given potential to make a change in their own lives. The text message campaign then gave them the opportunity to articulate their top priorities for the government to work on.
In comparing behavior after exposure to these two recordings, we found that it was the Pentecostal-like message that motivated the highest level of political engagement. People who listened to the Pentecostal-like message were more likely to participate in the text message campaign than those who listened to other messages, including the papal-like one. But the texts that were sent from those exposed to the Pentecostal message were largely about personal concerns (e.g., requests for loans or jobs) rather than collective ones (e.g., greater spending on education). In other words, the Pentecostal message seemed to give people a sense of internal efficacy to take action and voice their concerns, but those concerns were largely individual.
This research should remind us of the diversity of approaches to poverty among religious associations in sub-Saharan Africa. While Pope Francis calls this week for more resources to be distributed to the poor, increasingly popular churches are communicating that the burden of poverty alleviation falls instead on the individual. Two important questions arise: which message will find the broadest resonance and with what consequences?
Gwyneth McClendon is an assistant professor of Government and Social Studies at Harvard University where she researches ethnic and religious politics, political participation and political psychology.
Rachel Beatty Riedl is an assistant professor of political science at Northwestern University and author of the award-winning book, “Authoritarian Origins of Democratic Party Systems in Africa.”
MORE READING:
This chart explains why Pope Francis’s call to welcome immigrants probably won’t make a difference
#BlackLivesMatter, the international papal edition
Why jogging or going to church can get you arrested (in Burundi)
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I'm in the middle of writing a meaty Wild blog with a lot of info and updates, but I figured I would get this up now.
I tossed this briefly into Thursday’s newspaper, but former popular Wild forward Andrew Brunette has officially been named an assistant coach along with Rick Wilson, Darryl Sydor and Darby Hendrickson.
In the past two years, Brunette has held the role of hockey operations advisor, a role that saw him work with GM Chuck Fletcher, work with the coaches and even scout. Last year, he predominately worked with the coaches, particularly on the power play. Next season, Brunette will work solely with the coaches. He’ll be in charge of the power play, and in fact, will likely join head coach Mike Yeo, Wilson and Sydor on the bench as a third assistant.
Previously, Brunette was an eye in the sky with Hendrickson, but Yeo feels having Brunette on the bench during games will provide further value, particularly on the power play. The Wild’s power play ranked 16th in the NHL last season, converting 17.9 percent of the time. That’s exactly where the Wild finished in 2012-13 when Brunette wasn’t running the power play.
As we get closer to training camp or in camp, I’ll sit down with Yeo and Brunette to discuss the power play further, but Yeo said at the draft that the coaches are spending a portion of this offseason working on the power play and discussing everything from personnel to concepts to the way it’s run.
Obviously, the hope too is that Thomas Vanek’s addition will help. Vanek has scored the third-most power-play goals (113) in the NHL since the start of the 2005-06 season. Of course, ex-Wild/now-Duck Dany Heatley ranks fourth at 112. Ahead of Vanek in that time? Alex Ovechkin at 151 and Teemu Selanne at 115.
In Wild history, Brunette ranks third in goals (119), fourth in assists (202) and points (321) and second in power-plays goals (55).
I talked to Brunette a little about this at the draft, but I wasn't able to get him Wednesday. He, along with a number of Wild peeps, was heading to Finland to attend Wild captain Mikko Koivu's wedding. My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail!
As I mentioned, I'll post another blog soon with a little bit of this and a lot of that.
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by John Harvin
Last night we had dinner with my daughter’s future in-laws. They are devout Christians, members of an ultra-conservative evangelical mega-church.
As we sat down to eat, they asked if anyone minded if they said grace. We smiled and went along with it, but the truth is I do mind. I think coming into someone’s home and imposing your belief system is unspeakably rude and completely unacceptable. What if I belonged to the Sacred Church of Zoophilia, and I came to dinner at your house and asked, “While you dish out the salad, do you mind if I have sex with your cat?” To me, talking aloud to Jesus and forcing me to listen in on the conversation is much the same thing. And after dinner, when the inevitable sales pitch came, we turned it away as gracefully as possible.
Marrying into an evangelical family is a very depressing prospect. We know they’re going to try again: They have to. It’s a central tenet of their religion. We can look forward to a semi-eternity of being cornered at joint family events and quizzed about our relationship with Christ.
But as I sat there, smiling outwardly while I inwardly thought dark thoughts about building a huge fence around Texas and herding all the evangelicals in the U.S. inside two by two, I had an epiphany. We “seculars” and evangelicals need each other. It’s pretty obvious why they need us (because someone needs to propose and implement rational social and economic policy,) but except for the comic opportunities provided by Sarah Palin, it may be less obvious why we need them.
Reason number 1: They keep us honest, more or less. Every group, political or social, goes too far if there’s not a countervailing force. And if you completely wipe out the opposition, the one that replaces it can be much nastier than the one it replaced, like substituting a muscular and energetic Islamic movement for a decrepit and doddering Communist one. Evangelicals (and the right wing they are joined with at the hip) provide about the right level of resistance to keep the current majority in the U.S.—progressives who are secular in practice if not in name—on the up and up. I mean, be realistic, are we that sure about all our ideas? Of course not, we understand the concept of unintended consequences and can cite any number of ideas (like housing projects) that seemed good at the time that turned out really bad. At least we can count on the Evangelicals to scream “No,” no matter what we propose. That forces us to pause for a minute and consider whether our ideas are really right. The Harlem Globetrotters used to travel with their own team, the Washington Generals. Every so often, the Generals would even win a game, but their real job wasn’t to compete, it was to allow the Globetrotters to show off their considerable skills. Think of the Evangelicals as our collection of slow, tubby white guys, just out there to make us look good.
Reason number 2: They do things the rest of us won’t do, like fight wars and run into burning buildings and play pro football. I have no way of proving this, but I’d wager that if you looked at who is in the military or works in our police stations and firehouses, that there is a disproportionate number of Evangelicals and devout Christians in the mix. Maybe the whole idea of the afterlife makes you inclined to do stuff that those of us with only one life are reluctant to do. But it’s a fact: It’s Evangelicals and devout Christians who put themselves into harm’s way for the rest us. And that’s true if the task is to defuse roadside bombs in Iraq or face down armed meth heads or collide full speed with three hundred pound men for our entertainment. You never see a prayer circle at a safe sporting event, like the PGA or ATP Tours, but there’s one midfield after most NFL games. Evangelicals seem far more willing to risk life and limb for the things they believe in passionately, and they tend to be passionate people. And very seriously, we should appreciate anyone who is willing to put his or her life on the line for the public good, whatever their motives.
Reason number 3: They do other things the rest of us won’t do, like live in Mississippi or Oklahoma or Nebraska. Now this one is a little less serious than the last two, but it’s still true. There’s a reason CNN’s map is all red in the south and western mid-west. It’s because that part of the country is full of Evangelicals who are happy to live in places the rest of us are reluctant to even fly over. These are places that are flat and ugly, lit by flares from oil wells and heavy with the stench of feed lots and pesticides. Most of us want to live near water or mountains, where the restaurants are good and the jobs are plentiful, not in some forgotten backwater where the best job going is principal of the local high school. But somebody has to live out there, or there would be no meat on the shelves at our local grocery, no gas stations between Chicago and Flagstaff and another 30 million people in San Bernadino County. Better them than us.
In other words, Evangelicals are like vultures – unsightly, but a necessary part of the ecosystem. So what if I don’t like them? They fill a role. And maybe instead of rolling my eyes at my future in-laws, I should appreciate them a little more.
Next: Why we need Jesse, Sean, Al and Rush. Really.
__________
John Harvin is a writer, novelist and executive. He has traveled and worked in more than forty countries and lived in Chicago, New York, LA, Mexico City and Sydney. He has published five books and his work has appeared in Fortune, Wall Street Journal, LA Times and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, among others. He is particularly proud of the EQMM short story, because he thinks somehow this makes him a pulp author like Raymond Chandler. (Sadly, the book critics have not yet seen the connection.) He has way too much energy for his own good, and when not working or writing or spending time with his family, he rides ultra-marathon bicycle races, does triathlons, scuba dives, skis, works on his farm in Indiana and thinks.
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It's almost time for another season of New Orleans Saints football!But before the games count, the Black and Gold hope to get through the preseason healthy with two away games and two home games.Here's a look at the preseason schedule:Week 1: New Orleans Saints vs. Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium at 7 p.m. on Aug. 10Week 2: New Orleans Saints vs. San Diego Chargers at StubHub Center at 7 p.m. on Aug. 20Week 3: New Orleans Saints vs. Houston Texans at Mercedes-Benz Superdome at 7 p.m. Aug. 26Week 4: New Orleans Saints vs. Baltimore Ravens at Mercedes-Benz Superdome at 7 p.m. Aug. 31.The regular season gets started when the Saints face off against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 11. at U.S. Bank Stadium. Check out the Saints website for more information on the regular season.Find more Saints content on WDSU.com.Keep up with local news, weather and current events with the WDSU app here. Sign up for our email newsletters to get breaking news right in your inbox. Click here to sign up!
It's almost time for another season of New Orleans Saints football!
But before the games count, the Black and Gold hope to get through the preseason healthy with two away games and two home games.
Advertisement
Here's a look at the preseason schedule:
Week 1: New Orleans Saints vs. Cleveland Browns at FirstEnergy Stadium at 7 p.m. on Aug. 10
Week 2: New Orleans Saints vs. San Diego Chargers at StubHub Center at 7 p.m. on Aug. 20
Week 3: New Orleans Saints vs. Houston Texans at Mercedes-Benz Superdome at 7 p.m. Aug. 26
Week 4: New Orleans Saints vs. Baltimore Ravens at Mercedes-Benz Superdome at 7 p.m. Aug. 31.
The regular season gets started when the Saints face off against the Minnesota Vikings on Sept. 11. at U.S. Bank Stadium. Check out the Saints website for more information on the regular season.
Find more Saints content on WDSU.com.
Keep up with local news, weather and current events with the WDSU app here. Sign up for our email newsletters to get breaking news right in your inbox. Click here to sign up!
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Super healthy banana oatmeal muffins are naturally gluten free and so simple to make!
When they don’t have school, my kids are largely on their own for breakfast. If they drag through the morning because they didn’t eat a proper meal first thing, I can live with that.
But on school days, I’m all about a healthy and hearty breakfast. These super healthy banana oatmeal muffins are just the thing. Brain food to go (if need be)!
They freeze beautifully, and they’re ridiculously easy to make with suuuuuuper basic pantry ingredients. Did I mention how healthy they are yet?
I typically like to make the batter for these muffins in the blender, as it’s the only way to make a smooth batter. And a smooth batter leads to a smooth muffin.
But lately I’m having blender issues, and in case you’re blender-challenged as well, I wanted you to have options. So in the video at the top of this post, I’ve used a mini food processor to grind the oats into a flour and to blend the sugar and bananas.
The rest of the batter is made by hand. It’s not a perfect solution, but the muffins are still absolutely delicious, hearty and healthy as ever.
Other than a small handful of chocolate chips (which you could easily replace with much more virtuous chopped nuts of nearly any kind), these muffins are just.so.good.for.you. And because they’re packed with whole grains, they’re really satisfying.
These banana oatmeal muffins also have very little sugar. There’s just 1/2 cup of coconut palm sugar in all 12 muffins. There isn’t even much fat. Just that added by the sour cream or yogurt and the egg yolks—no butter or oil.
But these banana oatmeal muffins are still moist, tender and just flat out delicious. Like a hearty banana bread—but without any guilt.
P.S. If you’re interested, here are even more healthy gluten free muffins!
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Apple today seeded second betas of iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan to public beta testers, nearly two weeks after beta testers received access to the first public betas . Today's iOS 9 public beta offering has a build number of 13A4305g, which means content-wise, it's the same as the fourth iOS 9 beta that was seeded to developers yesterday. The version of OS X El Capitan public beta testers are receiving is also identical to El Capitan beta 4 Beta testers who have signed up for Apple's beta testing program and already have the first public betas installed can update over-the-air for iOS 9 or through the Software Update mechanism in the Mac App Store for OS X.The iOS 9 beta includes the return of Home Sharing for music , which was removed in iOS 8.4 , and it's the first beta that supports Apple's new iPod touch. Other changes include a new look for Handoff in the app switcher and a bug fix that once again allows the volume buttons on an iOS device to serve as a shutter for the camera. A full list of changes in the beta can be found in our iOS 9 beta 4 tidbits list OS X El Capitan beta 4 focused more on performance improvements and bug fixes with few outward changes to the operating system.Both iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan 10.11 are expected to be released in the fall.
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RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — A man in Riverside who went to see an auto mechanic said he was personally offended by what was written on his receipt – and it wasn’t the price.
Customer Ruben Rodriguez said, “I saw the words ‘stupid’ and I just kind of was like, ‘What?’ And I read it and reread it.”
CBS2/KCAL9’s Crystal Cruz confirmed that scribbled at the bottom of the receipt was “customer to stupid to understand normal thinking.”
Rodriguez said it was written by George Fritts, the owner of George Fritts Auto repair in Riverside. He’s quick to point out a grammatical error: Fritts should have used “too” when he wrote “to stupid.”
“That is one of the issues that I pointed out when I went back into the store. And I don’t think he was too excited about that, but I did my best to help him out,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said he was given the “nasty gram” Tuesday when he questioned Fritts about some previous work done to his car: “As you can see on the bottom, it does say customer advised again about keeping oil clean, which I’m not sure how to do that. That was my question.”
“If he has the nerve enough or proud enough to write this on paper then who else has he told and talked to this way. I just felt that if you were treated this way by him he shouldn’t get away with it.”
Cruz spoke with Fritts about his note but the only comment he wanted to say on record was that he stood by his opinion of Rodriguez.
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